Silver and Gold
by VilyaSage
Summary: Chapter 7! Picard's death sends the Djinn into a frenzy, and it seems that the threat has been eliminated when Barbaus arrives to help. At long last, Mia reveals her risky plan, and a messenger arrives from one of the most unexpected places. The End. R&R!
1. Return to Champa

Silver and Gold

A/N: At last it has arrived! This is the reason for the delay in all my other stories—the sequel to Sunlight and Shade  and  Dawn and Twilight! While it would be nice if you went and read and reviewed those, this can very well stand on its own and you'll all still want to kill me for the cliffhangers. Like the others, it will be seven chapters long and as of this posting all but the final chapter has been completed. So sit back, relax and enjoy…while you can…

Chapter One: Return to Champa

            "Are you certain this will be enough?"

            "I am certain, milord. If he feels his home and family are threatened, he will be drawn out like a fly to rotting meat."

            "A wonderful analogy, I must say. He is exactly like a fly. Annoying, stupid, easily killed, and with a short life span. Shorter, in the near future."

            "I quite agree. He will pay for what he has done to our city. If all goes as planned, he will pay with his life." 

            "Of course he will. The plan is brilliant." 

            "Is it truly that good of a plan?"

            "Do you doubt my methods?"

            "Certainly not, milord." 

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

            Isaac stood at the wheel of Picard's Lemurian ship, though the vessel was currently at a standstill. The other seven Adepts were all on the deck as well, clustered around Isaac, it seemed, and they were debating their next course of action.

            "All in favor of heading to Champa and retrieving Kraden?" Felix offered. Not a single hand was raised. "I thought not. Where to, then?" 

            "How about we head back to good old Vale?" suggested Garet. 

            "What's so exciting at home, Garet?" Jenna teased. "Leave a girl behind?"

            "Maybe," Garet said, not really paying attention to what Jenna was saying. He was rewarded by feeling a staff smash into the back of his head. "Yagh! Jenna! I had enough of that business in Hesperia!"

            "Maybe you'll learn something if it's repeated enough," Jenna said acidly. "Or else I could just beat your sorry self at cards again."

            "It's impossible for a _true_ Mars Adept to win at a game involving water," Garet argued smugly.

            "Are you implying that I'm flawed?"

            "Nope."

            "See if I save _you_ the next time you're in a mess you can't get yourself out of!" Jenna yelled, storming off to the other side of the ship. Several pairs of eyes followed.

            Felix sighed and shook his head. Jenna liked Garet, in fact more than that, but he'd never seen something that so utterly fit the description 'love-hate relationship'. Originally he hadn't exactly enjoyed the idea of oafish Garet and his sister being together, but Jenna had made it quite clear that Felix's approval wasn't something she found vital to the relationship.

            "Why not go get Kraden, then?" Ivan asked maliciously. "I have a few _words_ I want to say to that man. He's too curious for his own good, is what he is!"

            "Got that right," agreed Mia wholeheartedly. "I hope Briggs is having _fun_ with him. Serves him right for piracy!" 

            "Briggs wasn't really a pirate," Sheba argued. "I mean sure, he stole things from other towns and cities and whatnot, but only when they could afford to lose their things and only because Champa had nothing. And _that_ was because the lack of Alchemy was destroying Weyard…" Sheba stopped. She looked around at several stunned faces and a few smiling ones. "What?"

            "And he's the reason Picard was in jail," continued Mia.

            "No, that was all Madra's fault," Picard protested. "They declared me guilty with neither evidence nor fairness. Actually," he mused, grinning, "I wasn't even conscious at the time. Funny how these things work out, isn't it?"

            "What do you mean?" asked Sheba.

            "Well, if the Madrans had not put me in prison, you'd never have seen me use Psynergy, and thus never had any reason to prove my innocence, and I might be back in Lemuria now just living a bored life, or perhaps lying dead at the bottom of the Sea of Time, taken by Poseidon's wrath…why are you looking at me that way, Isaac?"

            "Do you have these sorts of fantasies often?" Isaac asked warily. "And when you do, are you always grinning like an idiot all through them?"

            "How old am I?" Picard asked, his question signifying that the answer was 'I won't tell you unless it's absolutely vital to my survival, and perhaps not even then. Perhaps I'll send you all the way back to Lemuria to find out, if they even know.'

            There was a moderate-length pause as the other six Adepts considered the implications of returning to Lemuria yet again and facing the wrath of the Senate.

            "I still want to leave Kraden there," said Garet, returning to the subject of Champa.

            "Agreed," agreed Felix. "We don't need any more trouble for a while. Well, except what the Djinn stir up every few seconds or so." 

            "Did you hear that Meld?" asked Mold from atop Felix's head. "I believe we've just been insulted!" 

            "Indeed we have," said Meld, appearing next to Mold. "Shall we do something about it?"

            "You Venus Djinn couldn't solve a problem if the answer were already there," said Luff degradingly. "Let _us_ handle the matter of Felix's little…mistake."

            "Not you by yourself, you old windbag," Lull grumbled, popping up at Sheba's feet. "You'll just send us off course again by trying to do things you weren't meant to do!"

            "All of you stop it," chided Fog, shifting from foot to foot on Picard's head. "You're acting childish. It's belittling."

            "You should talk, kid," Mist muttered. "You're one of the youngest Djinn on this dang boat."

            "If anyone's to repay Felix's insult, it should be a Djinni of Mars!" Scorch piped up eagerly.

            "And one more intelligent and experienced than _you_," added Torch. "Like me for example."

            "If anyone's fer doin' what's t'be done to Felix there, it's to be me, and me alone!" said a voice that heralded doom for all who'd heard it once and seen the ramifications of acknowledging it. Few ever forgot what happened after Hail broke loose.

            "Oh shut up, you mockery of a pirate," spat Squall. "Only thing that comes from you being let loose is chaos."

            "Mayhem," put in Fog.

            "Turmoil," added Quartz.

            "Havoc," Hail defended. "There's havoc to be wrought, say I! _Arr_!" With those words Hail called upon a miniature ice barrage, which struck both Mars Djinn and Luff and obviously merited retaliation. Well, in the minds of the Djinn, anyway.

            Within seconds, blasts of wind, fire, water and mud were being pelted all over the deck of the ship. Four Djinn stood back from the onslaught and wondered how in the world their relatives, for want of better term, could act thus.

            Tinder, Crystal, Balm and Haze shook their heads and sighed. 

            Somewhere far away from where the Adepts were, four figures did much the same thing. But for very different reasons.

            From one of the Jupiter Djinn, a large whirlwind had begun to form, and it occurred to the Adepts that their meager effort to halt the argument might have been better off if it'd been a halting by force, or perhaps by either Psynergy.

            Each elemental power began to rage out of control, throwing the ship about, jerking the Adepts until each was on his or her knees (or face) on the deck. In an attempt to end the craziness, Sheba called up the strongest wind she could and sent it spinning in the opposite direction. 

            Sheba was powerful enough to get rid of the whirlwinds and the flying clods of earth, and the flames and ice chips and water bombs all slammed into one another and created a mist that hung about the ship. Standing, Sheba brushed herself off and glared at her Djinn. In the months she'd spent with them, mental glaring had become a skill.

            "We've moved," Picard said rather faintly. 

            "And those Djinn are about to move right off this boat and into the water," Garet growled, grabbing hold of whatever Mars Djinni he found first and dangling it threateningly over the waves.

            "No, no, not like that," said Picard a bit more firmly. "The boat has moved. Somewhere a distance from where we were stopped before." Frowning, and ignoring Mia's scowl, Picard stood and walked to the edge of the ship, squinting into the fog to see over the edge. "And I'm not liking what I see here either."

            "What is it?" Isaac asked, joining Picard. 

            "What I want to know is, how does he have any idea if there's something wrong with the ship, or even if it's moved?" asked Ivan, suspicion in his voice.

            "How do you know in the morning whether it'll be windy later in the day or not?" Jenna shot back, having rejoined the others the moment the chaos had halted. "It isn't Psynergy. It's sort of instinct, on an Adept level."

            "Boats and Mercury Psynergy don't exactly directly connect like wind and Jupiter Psynergy do," protested Felix. "Indirectly, sure, but not right off the mark."

            "Right off the…never mind," Mia said, waving a hand as though scattering her words into the air. "Picard's a sailor—"

            "Mariner," said Sheba.

            "Admiral," corrected Picard absently. 

            "—and he's been doing things with boats and such all his life," continued Mia, taking no notice of either comment. "It's a sort of sixth sense, I suppose. Once you do it for long enough, you know when something's out of place."

            "Can't really tell through the fog," Isaac remarked, sighing. "Someone get rid of it, if you will."

            "None of us Will," Garet pointed out. 

            "Oh shut up."

            Ivan suppressed a laugh and blew away the lingering mists with a soft breeze.

            "Thought so," Picard mumbled darkly.

            "This isn't good," Isaac agreed in a similar tone.

            "Definitely not."

            "What do you suppose we're to do?"

            "Maybe take a trip to Yallam."

            "We haven't got anything useful, though. And Sunshine might not be able to do this sort of thing."

            "We could try Contigo."

            "And let them know that the Djinn did it? Hardly."

            "You propose we just stay here then? It will not go away on its own."

            "What are we discussing, again?" asked Felix tartly. Isaac motioned towards what was apparently the water, but Felix looked over the edge and gave a long, low whistle. "That's bad, Isaac."

            "Yep."

            "Someone let us in on it," said Jenna, finding room at the rail sparse. She squeezed in between her brother and Picard and looked at what appeared to be a few pieces of shimmering fabric attached—somehow—to some more charred pieces and twisted metal. 

            "Gods," she whispered, then practically flew to the other side of the ship and saw that the other Wing of Anemos was still intact, or at least mostly. There were a few singed bits, but it was nothing like the other side. 

            "Isaac, how do we fix something like that?" asked Sheba, having caught on. 

            "You won't believe what I'm about to suggest we do," Ivan said suddenly, ominously.

            "And that is?"

            "I'm open to anything you've got," added Garet. "Anything except—"

            "We go back to Champa," Ivan said resignedly.

            "—that," finished Garet, sounding deflated.

*((((~{*((((~{*((((~{*((((~{*((((~{*((((~{*((((~{*((((~{*((((~{*((((~{

            The left Anemos Wing wasn't the only thing with missing pieces, the Adepts soon discovered. It was with many sighs of relief that the Lemurian ship slowly docked at the beach just south of Champa, and it gave the Adepts their first real chance to see what sort of damage the Djinn had really caused.

            "And not a scratch on any of us," Ivan said in shock after a few long moments of stunned silence. "Tell me we can make it look like an actual boat again sometime soon."

            "If Obaba can find some way to fix this wing," said Picard slowly, as though making absolutely sure that every word he said was a word he wanted to be saying, "then I can work out how to get rid of the scorch marks and such."

            "They're not _all_ mine," said Scorch defensively. "Some of them are Cannon's."

            "You're walking a fine line right now," Garet warned, and Scorch immediately disappeared. 

            Leaving Garet and Ivan behind to watch the ship (to which both firmly protested until they were reminded that ship-watching meant no seeing Kraden), the others headed into Champa with Felix, probably the most familiar face to the Champans, in the lead. 

            Felix recognized a couple of them as Briggs' crew; the men present on the day the Adepts defeated the 'pirate' in Alhafra. Of course, Felix, Jenna, Sheba and Kraden had later learned that Briggs only stole from towns that could afford to have things stolen, and only resorted to piracy if there was no other way to get food and supplies for Champa.

            In theory, Briggs was a 'noble pirate' in much the way Lunpa was a 'noble thief'. Except Lunpa probably hadn't ever been to Alhafra. Knowing the Alhafrans and how their current mayor might react to thievery, Felix thought that Lunpa was better off in that position.

            "Good day, Felix," said one man; he and another stood in front of the doors to the main Champan complex, which was actually built into a cliffside. "What brings you back to Champa?"

            "We're here to speak to Obaba, actually," interjected Isaac. "It's very important."

            "Go on ahead," said the other man cheerfully, and the Champans opened the doors and let the Adepts pass. Felix, calling on nearly-forgotten memory, led the rest of them up several levels and into a room on the highest one. Inside sat Briggs' son, Eoleo, and his wife, Chaucha. 

            "Felix! What brings you back to Champa? Your companions were here a while ago with that annoying old man…he and Obaba had quite a fun time together, if I recall correctly…" Chaucha stopped then, as though unsure of how to continue. 

            "We're looking for Obaba, actually," said Jenna, ignoring Chaucha's reluctance to talk about Kraden. Jenna didn't really want to talk about Kraden either. 

            "She's not here," said a voice from the doorway, and the Adepts turned around to find Briggs glaring at them, though in a rather cautious and…pale way. "So leave."

            "It's very important that we see her," said Mia before Jenna could state what was obviously on her mind. "Without her we may not be able to take our ship off your beach." 

            "You got here just fine. What's stopping you from leaving?"

            "A good amount of twisted metal, some smoldering fabric, a few missing Psynergy lines…what, none of you knew that Psynergy lines ran through the Wings?" Sheba asked, as though such things were knowledge that one knew since approximately the age of three. 

            "I could have guessed, if given the opportunity," Picard supplied, hiding his lack of knowledge very well under the circumstances. "And how are we to repair something that can only be mended by an Adept?"

            "We're Adepts, are we not?" Felix replied casually. At the mention of that fact Briggs visibly shuddered. Felix raised an eyebrow curiously, but said nothing more. 

            "So we were hoping that Obaba could try to fix the Wing, since we won't make it all the way back to Contigo with the way the boat—sorry, ship," Isaac corrected quickly when he caught the flash in Picard's eyes, "is looking. We're lucky we made it this far."

            "So find her and then leave. I don't want you here any more," Briggs said rather meekly. 

            "Are you afraid of us, Briggs?" Sheba asked innocently.

            "He'd better not be," mumbled Chaucha. "He's Champa's leader, he's got no cause to be afraid of a bunch of kids…no offense meant," she added when Jenna glanced her way.

            "None taken," said the Mars Adept with a friendly smile. 

            "Briggs? Robert Briggs!" called an elderly voice from outside the door. "Get out of the doorway and let me see my great-grandson!" A short, elderly woman leaning on a cane pushed past Briggs with unusual strength and studied the very crowded room. After several minutes of close scrutiny, she shrugged. "Hope that trident did you good," she offered to Felix.

            "Lots of it," he said, not wanting to recall the disastrous bout with Poseidon. "We were wondering if you'd like to take on a bit of a more difficult job."

            "You think reforging the Trident of Ankohl was _easy_?!" screeched Obaba, glaring. "It took superior skill, talent and a heck of a lot of practice to be able to do that!' 

            "Right, sorry," said Isaac, stepping in front of Felix and nodding to Obaba deferentially. "Would you mind having a look at our ship, then? We've broken something very valuable and you're the only one we know skilled enough to attempt repairs."

            Chaucha and Briggs looked at one another, silently applauding Isaac's ingenious way of both complimenting and challenging Obaba. The old woman never backed down from a challenge, no matter how crazy it was.

            "Of course, I'd be happy to," Obaba said, her mood very much changed. "You know, you sounded almost like that wonderful old man you left here two weeks ago…he was so curious about Champan life…"

            "I don't want to know that I talk like Kraden, thanks," Isaac mumbled. Mia giggled.

            "Hey," said Sheba, frowning and recalling an earlier part of the conversation. "Where is Kraden, anyway?"

*********************************(((~{*********************************

Well, that's the end of chapter one. And you know there are more wonderful chapters to look forward to, so of course you'll review because you want those chapters, don't you? *evil laughter*

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	2. Able Bodied Seapeople

Silver and Gold

A/N: Well…looks like they like it so far…just you wait until it gets going…heh…they'll kill me…reviewers! I love my reviewers!

But there isn't much to say to the reviewers except that the game to which Garet was referring was the card game he and Jenna were playing at the end of DT—Go Fish.

With that…read on, people!

Chapter Two: Able-Bodied Seapeople 

            "Milord, they've left for Daila."

            "When did they leave?"

            "Not less than five minutes since, milord."

            "Good, good. The plan is succeeding splendidly. That fly will be a smear on the wall in no time."

            "Are you certain there is absolutely no chance of failure, milord?"

            "After so many years, that Barbaus ought to know what's got to be done."

            "You've given Barbaus quite an…unusual task, milord, if I may speak it. Hunting for—"

            "Shut up you fool! Do you want to be overheard?"

            "Of course not, milord." 

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

            "Um…Kraden? Well, you see…it's all very hard to explain," said Chaucha finally. "We sent him off with Obaba—she's the only one who can stand him—to the Ankohl Ruins, and we sent a couple of Briggs' crewmen with them, because they're both getting on in years and we feared for their safety."

            "Feared for _her_ safety," Briggs corrected almost inaudibly. Chaucha glared at him and he took a small step back.

            "They returned while Briggs, Eoleo and I were out with the boat and the rest of the crew, taking a load of supplies to Izumo, and that night Champa was attacked." 

            "Attacked?" asked Mia, shocked.

            "Yes," said Chaucha in an ominous voice. "Attacked. By pirates." 

            "But I thought Briggs and his crew _were_ pirates," Isaac said, confused. "They stole from Alhafra and attacked Madra and all." 

            "We stole from Alhafra to feed ourselves," Briggs tried to explain. "We had nothing, our crops produced absolutely nothing, and we had a boat. It was only piracy in an attempt to stop my people from dying!"

            "And we attacked Madra because we feared a combined assault from they and Alhafra once the Alhafran boat was repaired. We had no idea that our attack would lead to innocent imprisonment," Chaucha added, nodding deferentially to Picard. "Our apologies."

            "You do not need to apologize," said Picard with a kind smile. "If not for that imprisonment I'd not likely be here today. I might have still been in Lemuria."

            "The pirates," said Obaba in her ancient voice, "came into the cliff complex and ransacked the rooms. Everything was strewn about. Their captain, it must have been him, he wore this great feathered hat, spotted Kraden, shouted something, and his men carried the old man off. Right out onto their boat and away. My grandson and Chaucha didn't get back until a few days later. By then…" Obaba trailed off. 

            "Those pirates are regretting their captain's decision, and they have been for days," speculated Felix. "It's Kraden we're talking about, after all." 

            "They also robbed Champa of everything we've risked our lives to get. Everything that was meant to keep us alive through the winter, even," said Briggs with anger in his voice. "I've wanted to stop them, but the crewmen I left behind were nearly killed by the pirates, and they're two of my best—I won't leave to go pirate-chasing without them. They're irreplaceable." 

            "Not even by eight other able-bodied seapeople?" asked Mia thoughtfully. Isaac looked at her in horror. She couldn't be thinking… "We'd gladly join you on your pirate hunt. And there might be some other things we can do to help, while we're here. Our ship needs to be repaired, after all…will you help us, Obaba?" Mia asked in her best angelic voice. 

            "Certainly!" Obaba said, an angry fire in her aged eyes. "Anything to stop evil pirates!" Thumping the end of her cane on the floor, she turned and marched from the room. "Come show me this thing!" she called back. Isaac and Felix rushed after her, and Sheba followed. Jenna and Picard made to go as well, but Mia's hands closed in steel grips around both of their shoulders. They looked at her.

            She looked back and forth between them for a few moments, apparently considering, and then let go of Picard with a little wave of her hand. He shrugged and hurried off after the others. Jenna, however, felt Mia's hand hold her back again, and she spun around, annoyed.

            "We have other things to do," Mia said pointedly, turning to Briggs and trying not to look lethal. "You mentioned crewmen?"

*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{

            Obaba paced the deck of Picard's ship again and again, comparing the now-repaired right Anemos wing to the still-mutilated left one. Sheba was floating rather precariously just over the right wing, running a glowing hand along it and reconnecting Psynergy lines.

            "This is sort of fun. I feel useful," she said, smiling. Ivan, who happened to be the source of the wind she was balancing on, also felt useful but enjoyed it much less. "I wonder what's taking Mia and Jenna so long to get down here." When he heard Sheba say this, Picard rubbed his shoulder out of reflex.

            "I might be able to do it, in a week!" Obaba declared finally, thumping her cane on the deck. Picard winced—he didn't need to have to worry about leaks too. "But I'll need two of you Adepts to stay behind, while the rest of you take Briggs' ship, and help with whatever it is Sheba there is doing."

            "It's not hard. One would probably do it," Sheba said, leaping to the deck gracefully. Ivan let go of the wind he'd been holding and sighed in relief.

            "You think I only want one of you around if those pirates come back? Do you take me for a fool?"

            "No ma'am!" said Isaac and Felix together as respectfully as possible. "The thing is," said Isaac meekly, "is that we promised Briggs eight seamen…well, five seamen and three seawomen, and if we leave two of us behind he's only going to get six."

            "He'll have his eight," said Picard, glancing for just a moment back into Champa. Isaac looked at him curiously. "I know where Mia and Jenna are," he said, continuing his rather measured pacing back and forth on the deck.

            "Which brings us to which of us stay behind," said Isaac, nodding. "I'd say the Mars Adepts, but Jenna would probably Flare me into oblivion. I think she wants to chase pirates. Garet…well, I don't know."

            "We could use one with his strength," Obaba remarked. 

            "I could stay," offered Picard rather generously. In truth, he was rather worried about leaving his ship behind, with the threat of another pirate attack apparent.

            "You know more about boats than any of the rest of us, and probably more about pirates too," argued Sheba. "You have to go. Except you'll have to learn how to sail a ship that doesn't use Psynergy at all."

            "The Apojiian ship was half and half," Ivan pointed out before Picard could use that as an argument. "Nice try though," he added, as though remembering something and offering this in consolation.

            "And I didn't do so well with that one either," Picard reflected, laughing. 

            "Nah, you did ok," offered Felix, though he was grinning maliciously. "After all, any idiot could have sailed us straight into a storm, but only you could have done it in such a direct fashion."

            "My thanks," Picard replied dryly. 

            "So now I'm really lost," Isaac put in, leaning back against the door that led into the one room on deck level. "Who goes? Who stays?" 

            "Both Mercury Adepts ought to go," Sheba began. "Sol knows we're always in need of those. Stop making that face Picard. And Isaac and Felix ought to go so that…well, that's a good question really. Because they're both leaders I guess. Did we ever resolve that?" Sheba added, looking at the Venus Adepts curiously.

            "Isaac's leader," said Felix.

            "Felix's leader," said Isaac at the same time.

            "That's what I thought," said Sheba knowingly. "And Jenna wants to go, I'm betting, just because if she weren't all Mars Adept I think she'd be Megaera." 

            "Jenna's not vengeful," Felix said defensively. "She's just got a strong sense of what's right and is very willing to fight for it."

            "Unless she's angry," Ivan added. "Then, yeah, she's vengeful."

            "And that leaves Ivan, Garet and myself," Sheba finished. She looked at Ivan and Garet expectantly. "No matter which way we look at it, one Jupiter Adept is staying behind."

            "I'm not doing the ocean thing any more than I have to. I'll help Obaba," Garet volunteered. "Besides, then I won't have to deal with anything that happens after pirates," he added with what appeared to be a reflective shudder-twitch. 

            "What happens after pirates?" Ivan questioned, a mischievous grin on his face. "Brigands? Bandits? Thieves? Raiders?" 

            "You know very well what I'm talking about, and if you want to live to see sixteen you won't say anything else," Garet said menacingly. "Now you and Sheba decide who stays behind."

            "Sheba, why don't you stay?" Ivan offered. "You're better at reconnecting the Wings than I am."

            "But Ivan," Sheba argued, "you're Contigan. You've got the power of Anemos in your very soul. It should come naturally for you. Besides, Garet still can't look in my direction without trying to scrub his hand from the end of his wrist, so it's better if I go."

            "And leave me here with him?"

            "Instead of out on the ocean with Jenna. Looking for Kraden."

            "Alright, alright! I'll stay!" Ivan yielded. "Just as long as he promises no torment."

            "If you promise no mischief," Garet said amiably. 

            "Never mind. Torment as you will." 

            "Tomorrow morning, then," Isaac said, his trademark determined look setting on his face, "we hunt pirates." He then strode off the deck in a very commanding fashion, heading for Champa's Inn.

            "You guys are in for it," Garet said to Picard.

            "Why do you say that?" asked the Mercury Adept.

            "He's doing the leader strut." 

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            "So, where to first?" asked Isaac the next morning. He had been told by Mia and Jenna, having sort of charmed their way into getting to hear more about these pirates, that they had been following a steady path along the coast of Angara, even traveling inland, and the nearest place to hit that wasn't Champa was Daila. Isaac believed, however, that it was likely the pirates had already been there and left.

            "First we make it clear that I am the captain of this vessel and the six of you are to take my orders without question," said Briggs in as brave a voice as he could muster. 

            "Unless his orders make no sense whatsoever. Then by all means question it," said Chaucha with a smile. They were leaving Eoleo behind in Champa, as well as the six crewmembers that the Adepts were replacing. The two who remained, Colin and Andrew, were the ones who had been left behind last time, and they were more than happy not to remain behind again.

            "You will work to earn your keep, will not cause trouble among my crew, and won't set your little creatures loose to wreak havoc and wreck my ship too. Fair?" Briggs asked in an increasingly braver voice, as he saw the Adepts offering no resistance.

            "Fair," Isaac agreed. "Under one condition."

            "Name it," said Chaucha before Briggs could respond.

            "If sea-dwelling monsters attack," Felix said, picking up for Isaac, "you leave the fighting-off to us and get yourself and Chaucha and your other crewmen out of the way." 

            Briggs appeared to think this over for a while. "Deal," he said finally. "Welcome to the crew. We are imposter pirates chasing real pirates. Always remember that."

            "Yes sir?" offered Sheba. Briggs laughed. 

            "On land he's something of a wuss, sometimes," Chaucha whispered to Jenna, "but on a ship at sea, he's the best captain you could hope for."

            "One of them, perhaps," Jenna agreed, thinking of Felix, Isaac and Picard. 

            Briggs began shouting orders at them all then, and each Adept ran to do his or her part, even if some of them didn't quite understand the rapid-fire nautical terminology. Sheba scampered up the rope ladder into the crows' nest, spyglass ready, in her opinion having the best job available on the entire ship. Garet, Picard, Isaac, Felix and the two Champans pulled the ropes that raised the sail. Mia and Jenna were sent below, the latter as cook and the former to check supplies one last time. And they were off.

            Without Hover capabilities, the ship moved at a speed normal for a ship, and after three days of hard sailing labor the Adepts were glad to put into Daila. However, as Isaac leapt ashore he realized instantly that they were far too late. 

            "Felix!" he called without much volume. He waited a moment or two, then tried again, louder, "Felix!" Annoyed now, Isaac looked up at the ship with a frown. "FELIX!"

            "I told you I wasn't getting off here!" came the muffled reply.

            "_I_ told _you_ to get off whether you want to or not! I need your help!"

            "What could you possibly need _me_ for that no one else on this ship could handle, Isaac?" Felix's voice asked irritably. Isaac sighed.

            "Oh, I don't know, maybe some _Venus Psynergy_?!" Isaac replied just as sharply. Neither he nor Felix had had the best few days recently…they had been given the most work by far, which Isaac didn't understand at all, and had been the only two on deck to fight off a horde of Seafoul the day before last. 

            Felix stuck his head over the rail of the ship and looked at Isaac. "What for, now?"

            "To fix the village."

            "Ask Picard for help."

"The _houses_, Felix. Those ones there, that don't have the necessary house components anymore. Walls and a roof and such…Felix? Felix! Get back here!" 

            "You want Growth capabilities or not?"

            "Never mind." Isaac leaned against a nearby tree and sighed. A few minutes later, one of Jenna's Djinn—Isaac thought it might be Core—hopped off the ship and joined with Isaac at the same time as Ground detached himself. 

            "Alright, Felix, no more stalling!" said Jenna in the voice she usually used with Garet, or perhaps Picard. "I'm coming too, anyway, because now I've got plant Psynergy and I want to make myself useful."

            "What you _really_ want to do," came Picard's voice from above, "is beat the stuffing out of several pirates."

            "I'll settle for this if I get to be twice as violent later," Jenna said rather cheerfully. She then proceeded to virtually drag Felix off the ship behind her. "Come on, Isaac," she said happily.

            "You know," Isaac said to Felix as they followed the strangely chipper Mars Adept, "she's starting to get Mia's mood-switching tendencies. You'd best be careful, Felix."

            "What do you mean, starting?" Felix replied, and Isaac laughed. 

            Back on board the ship, Picard sat on the deck, leaning against the mast in obvious relief. "At least a day with no work to be done," he said contentedly.

            "Arr, but there always be work needin' done on an outlaw vessel!" said Hail, appearing on the deck by Picard's feet. "Ye'll be doin' what's to be done or it'll be yer head, matey."

            "What?" Picard asked calmly. Hail sighed.

            "Cap'n Briggs wants you to go look at a map below. Arr," Hail added for good measure. Picard sighed, rose and began to walk to the door. He stopped with his hand on the knob.

            "Hail?" he asked without turning around.

            "Aye?" 

            "Did Mia send you?"

            "She might've." 

            Sighing again, Picard opened the door and found that Sheba, Mia and the four Champans were seated at the table already. Well, seated was a relative term—Chaucha, Mia and the crewmen were seated. Briggs stood beside Chaucha, studying a map, and Sheba stood beside Mia and an empty chair. "Sit," she said to Picard.

            "You sit," he argued, but the look on Sheba's face said she'd be having none of it, and Picard, not really in the mood for one of those silent arguments, sat. Briggs snapped out of his thoughts then and looked at Picard.

            "You're obviously the seaman out of all of them," he said briskly.

            "Yes," said Picard, trying to be as un-arrogant as possible and ask why it mattered at the same time.

            "Good. If you were a pirate, which if you want to be technical you are, as a member of my crew, where would you go after Daila?" Briggs asked, gesturing to the map. Picard didn't really need to look at the map—he'd been traveling Weyard for months, and he'd used to look at old Weyard maps growing up anyway—but he did so mostly to be polite.

            Looking at the map again, Picard frowned. The next logical point for a pirating band to hit would be Madra, the same town he'd been imprisoned in after Briggs and his Champans had attacked. 

            "Madra," said Mia and Sheba together, seeing the look on Picard's face. "Just like we said," Sheba added smugly.

            "I hate pirates," Briggs said fervently. "They go into towns and take all there is and cut down any who stand in their way and a few who don't, and then leave and practically expect a fully recovered town by the next time they get there. I hate them."

            "He wouldn't even steal anything if he didn't have to," said Chaucha sadly, more to herself than to anyone else. 

            "Well that's it then!" said Colin, and the others all looked at him. 

            "What's 'it'?" Briggs asked gruffly. 

            "We can hunt them down," said Colin excitedly. "Catch those pirates and being them to justice!" 

            "That's what I'd planned to do, yes," Briggs said, as though waiting for something more.

            "But we'll never catch them in a ship like this," argued Picard, suddenly quite interested in the discussion. "It's a slow one, meant for leisurely merchant ferrying, not pirate chasing."

            "And what ship are you suggesting we use, then? Yours, with it not even being able to make it from Champa to the Ankohl Ruins without problems?"

            "It's being fixed!" Mia defended. 

            "I'll have you know—"

            "You'll have me know nothing!" Mia said forcefully, standing and giving Briggs her almost-signature glare; the room's temperature dipped noticeably. "As a captain of any ship it's your duty to listen to and consider suggestions from your crew, whether you _like_ it that way or not. And the chances that you're more of a seaman than Picard are slim to none and slim isn't likely, _I'll_ have _you_ know!"

            "Whoa," said Sheba, looking up at the furious creature Mia had become. "Sit _down_, Mia," she said as quietly as she could and still be giving the Mercury Adept an order. "There's no reason to be…to be…" 

            "Sheba?" Mia asked concernedly, switching from angry to worriedly curious without stopping in between. "You alright?" In response, Sheba ran from the room, and after the initial door blockage, Picard got out first and was in time to see the Jupiter Adept scramble up the mast ropes and practically take a flying leap into the crows' nest.

            Picard and Mia followed, standing on the ropes and holding the edge of the wooden structure as Sheba, with a spyglass raised to one eye, waved her free hand around, obviously doing something.

            Sheba's perspective offered a view that looked less crazy. She had put all her Djinn on standby, allowing her to see wind currents; they glowed a very faint violet that grew stronger as she used her Psynergy to pull them to her. Through the spyglass she could see raised sails and a black flag, and she was trying to pull back bits of conversation from the winds. 

            Picard and Mia, however, had no idea she was doing this, and Mia was about to question her actions in as polite a way as she could think of when out of nowhere a voice said, "We'll go to Alhafra as planned, and then on to Madra."

            "Madra's not involved in this!" argued another voice.

            "We're pirates. Anyone who stands in our way is taken down."

            "But you…that…a promise…Madra!"

            "Sheba?" Mia questioned. Sheba blinked and shook her head.

            "They've gotten too far away," she said, frustrated. "I can't bring back the voices any farther."

            "You were trying to hear the pirates?" Mia asked incredulously.

            "Not trying. I _did_ hear the pirates. So did you," Sheba added as she climbed back down to the deck. 

            "And so did I," said Chaucha, who was standing at the base of the mast. "Looks like our next stop is Madra."

            "Not Alhaf…er…right," said Picard, remembering why the Champans, Briggs in particular, would want to avoid Alhafra. 

            Isaac, Jenna and Felix took another hour or so in returning, but when they did none of them seemed in the mood to talk. Jenna walked down the stairs to the hold without even a hello, and Felix and Isaac retreated to the stern of the ship in an exhausted attempt to avoid Briggs and thus avoid any more work.

            "You look worn out," Mia said, sitting next to Isaac. The Venus Adept nodded slowly. "Hard work?"

            "You wouldn't believe how old some of those buildings _were_, Mia," Isaac groaned, leaning back against the rail. "You'd pick up a piece in hopes of putting it back on and it would just…just fall apart in your hands. It's a wonder those houses were standing _before_ they were knocked over."

            "It was like rot, only going vertical," Felix added distantly. "Crumbled at the slightest touch."

            Mia considered this. Imil, which was always cold and snowy save for perhaps a month in the summer, when it became cool and muddy, had never really had problems with things rotting, and neither had Mercury Lighthouse, which was made from some sort of indestructible rock that wasn't entirely rock. But something didn't ring right about the things Isaac and Felix were saying.

            _Not that they're lying_, Mia said to the sudden onslaught of Djinn protest. _Something about the way things were in Daila is…just wrong._

            The next morning, Briggs announced the decision to make for Madra in hopes of beating the pirates there and perhaps providing Madra with some kind of defense against the inevitable attack.

            "Raise sail!" Briggs called, every bit the ideal captain of a ship. Jenna, watching from just inside the door to the hold, shook her head. 

            "For someone so afraid of his crew…" she began, but she let the thought finish in her head when she looked to the sun and realized she should be preparing some sort of breakfast.

******************************(((~{************************************

This is about the only chapter that doesn't end in a cliffhanger, so I hope you've enjoyed it. Care to hazard a guess at who's speaking at the beginning of both chapters, and who they're speaking about? Heh…I know I'm evil, live with it…next chapter should go up…mm, maybe Sunday night/Monday morning-ish. 

Review!!

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	3. Standard Pirate Arms

Silver and Gold

A/N: Another chapter…heh…this one's a bit more action-filled for you. Now, if I could remember what happens in the next one, I'd taunt you with that…but of course, I forget. But I remember, I forgot a disclaimer, so…I don't own Golden Sun or any familiar characters from there. However, I _do_ own Andrew, Colin, Barbaus, and every single random pirate. So there!

**Midnight:** Picard and Sheba, sane? No way! We're all completely wacko here!! 

**Kyarorain:** No, the people aren't pirates. Well, okay, they're pirates, but not pirates on the ship. They're a different manner of pirate.

Not much else to say, really…except that I was wrong, there are no cliffs this chapter either. Enjoy it while it lasts, because it won't last long! 

Chapter Three: Standard Pirate Arms

"They've returned, milord, full to brimming with the loot."

            "Wonderful. See that the fifty percent that is mine is taken to the treasury."

            "Of course milord. …Er…your pardon, milord?"

            "Yes?"

            "They have been sighted, sir. Reports are that one of them was using Psynergy to identify the ship as our men were headed away from Daila. It is believed that they know our next target, once we are finished in Alhafra."

            "Oh really? Then let us make for Madra with all haste, as soon as our Alhafran business concludes. That will be all."

            "Yes, milord."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

            A storm slowed the ship down, but Briggs was in a good mood that morning, and they sailed right on through, despite the pouring rain. 

            "What makes you so happy?" Felix asked sourly.

            "We're catching up," Briggs said with a harsh laugh. Felix made a sound that resembled 'hn,' and Sheba, overhearing him, giggled under her breath.

            _Just like Wheeze_, she thought, amid a nearly harmonious laughter chorus from every Djinni _except_ Wheeze, who mimicked Felix's aggressive-indifferent noise. 

            Eventually the skies cleared and Sheba lifted wind into the sails, making Briggs' ship speed along like it had likely never done before. They were headed for Madra, but it would probably take them a day or so more to get there, even at an improved pace. 

            Picard grumbled under his breath. He knew that running a ship, especially one so large, meant a lot of work, but he'd never been _ordered_ to scrub the deck before. Usually Briggs made Isaac or Felix do that, particularly Felix, who he must have still been sore at even after all this time. 

            There was a loud, inhuman cry, and a suddenly-appearing flock of Sea Birds began to dive on the Lemurian. He yelped and ducked even lower, tossing his scrub brush at the flock to scatter it. They came back together quickly, though, and began diving on him again. Picard would have sighed had he not been otherwise distracted. This just wasn't his day.

            He grabbed the bucket of water, moving into a crouch and springing up, spinning and sending droplets of water flying, at the same time calling, "Megacool!" The droplets became sharp-edged shards of ice, slicing at the Sea Birds and taking several of them down. 

            "Should teach them," he muttered as the rest flew off. He had, however, lost both scrubber and bucket to the birds, thus leaving him jobless. He sighed and decided to sit up there, at the bow, just watching the sea go by.

            Sheba looked down, having heard most of this spectacle, and grinned to herself. Leave it to Picard to use water in a bucket as a Psynergy attack. She jumped from the crows' nest bucket and scurried down the rope ladder, jumping off and landing lightly on the deck. The ship itself barely moved. Felix, across the deck making spare rope from vines, scowled.

            "Come on, you two. Lunchtime. Before Jenna comes up here banging those pans together again. I had a headache for _hours_. And don't either of you start up on me about it," Sheba added, noting the identical looks on Picard and Felix's faces. "It was a few days ago anyway, and we've got more important things right now. Like lunch," she reiterated, opening the door and finding Mia, Isaac, Jenna and the two Champans already seated at the table. "Well, there go our seats."

            "You're talkative today," Felix remarked dryly. He honestly couldn't see how rope made from vines that would die hours after he left the ship would be of any use to Briggs and Chaucha. 

            "So," Picard said to Isaac as he grabbed a piece of fruit—much as he respected Jenna, he knew about her cooking and her love of spicy food—and leaned against the wall. "How close might we be to Madra?"

            "Depends," Isaac said offhandedly, gulping water after eating some of the soup Jenna had made. "Gah! Jenna! You're going to kill us with this!"

            "They're the best dried chieles Naribwe had to offer!" Jenna protested. "They gave them to me in exchange for a few good recipes to use them in!"

            "I feel bad for them," Andrew gasped, choking on the over-spicy broth. "They suffer through this on accident."

            "What does the distance depend upon, again?" Mia asked, returning to Picard's question. 

            "Whether Briggs is crazy enough to keep sailing through more storms or through the night. And how often we get attacked by the usual fare of sea creatures." Picard hid a smile when Isaac said this, and Sheba giggled quietly. 

            "The captain's not entirely crazy," said Andrew, smiling. "He likes to chase pirates, after all. Who wouldn't enjoy that?"

            "The pirates?" hazarded Jenna. 

            "Even they like the thrill of the chase, I'll bet," Felix argued. The other all stared at him, but he didn't notice as he continued. "Somewhere behind the fear of being caught and punished and losing their treasure, they love the challenge of having to outrun the good guys."

            "Wow Felix," Sheba said after a while. 

            "I read a lot," Felix offered in explanation, shrugging. "Besides, if you were in that position…wouldn't you?"

            "This is one of those 'deep' moments," Isaac muttered. "Those ones that a leader's supposed to have every so often. Pity I don't—Felix comes up with some pretty good stuff when he feels like it."

            The remainder of lunch passed without much talk—everyone was dead tired, though they wouldn't admit it. Sailing work was _hard_—somehow, it hadn't been nearly this bad for the Adepts when they'd been on Picard's ship. Isaac and Felix returned to the deck to do whatever it was they'd been doing, and Jenna returned to the galley ('boat's kitchen' to Garet) mostly to clean up but also to snag a few spare moments to read an interesting book she'd found a while back and had never gotten the chance to really get into.

            Picard, Sheba and Mia, plus Andrew and Colin, remained at the table, just sitting, each lost in his or her own thoughts.

            "We ought to chase them down," Andrew said finally. "Hunt the pirates down and catch at least one of them, find out who hired them." 

            "Hired?" Picard questioned.

            "Of course hired," said Colin, surprising all of them—he rarely spoke at all. "Pirates, while they do pirate for their own greed, are more often than not hired by someone at the price of the pirates keeping half or more than half of any raided goods. Pirates haven't been in the Eastern Sea for decades, not counting the captain, so it's likely they're just a bunch of outlaws looking to make money and have 'fun' all at the same time," Colin finished. 

            "Well done," Andrew said after a moment's pause. "You've made your first speech." But the Adepts took no notice. Sheba had recalled a thought, an interesting one, and had relayed it to the other Adepts. Now Andrew and Colin studied the looks on the faces before them.

            Mia sat in one of the remaining chairs, one elbow resting on the table and her head on her hand. The look on her face was complicated, and almost looked like it was constantly shifting—a striking combination of worry, puzzlement, and thoughtfulness. There was something else there, but neither Andrew nor Colin would have been able to recognize it for what it was—they didn't know Mia well enough.

            Sheba stood between Mia and Picard, and her face wasn't hard to figure out. She was definitely concerned. But there was a light behind her eyes that suggested something more, something like…excitement. A desire to cause havoc and be proud of it.

            And Picard had perhaps the most interesting thoughts of them all, if his face gave anything away. He leaned back in his chair, nearly frowning, his eyes full of inner fire. But he was only _nearly_ frowning, because if you looked for a moment he was also nearly smiling. Like he thought whatever was to come might be fun, except the matter was too serious for him to actually look like he was enjoying himself.

            "Well, what is it?" Andrew asked finally.

            "Champa," the three of them said together. "Suppose the pirates are done with Alhafra and Madra by the time we reach Madra," continued Mia. "Suppose, since it seems they were originally after Obaba and Kraden—and they _got_ Kraden—suppose they return to Champa, to, in their own way, finish what they started?"

            "But Madra comes first," Chaucha said, coming up the stairs. "Yes, Mia, I heard you," she went on, looking at the Mercury Adept's stunned face. "We came out here to stop the pirates, or at least help the Eastern Sea protect itself. Briggs will remember Champa soon, and we'll go back there. But for now…he so enjoys fighting for the noble cause," she said wistfully. "Even when he has to pirate, himself, to do it. Let him have his fun."

            "You don't worry for Champa?" asked Colin, astonished.

            "We left two very capable Adepts back there with Obaba and Eoleo," Chaucha reminded him. "I'm certain that no pirate fleet will be a match for them."

            "Capable," muttered Mia, absolutely certain at that moment that there was something they'd overlooked when they'd decided it would be Garet and Ivan who stayed behind. But the feeling fled quickly—it was her turn to watch from the crows' nest and Briggs was yelling to her from outside.

            "Honestly, sometimes I want to just…" Chaucha began, then shrugged. "But what can I say?" she went on, more to herself than anyone else, as she headed back down the stairs. "I love him. I _married_ him."

            Sheba giggled, then followed Mia out the door. The two Champans had gone with Chaucha. Picard sat alone at the table, looking from the door to the stairs for a few moments as though betrayed. Then he noticed the map, rolled up and placed on a shelf on the wall. He got it down and unrolled it, weighing the ends down with his half-filled glass and three Djinn—Spring, Serac and Rime—who had been called upon for the purpose of three alternate opinions.

            Serac thought like a fighter. Spring thought like a healer. And Rime thought like a master strategist. It was that simple.

            "Izumo…Champa…Daila…Alhafra…Madra," Picard said to himself, pointing for a moment to each area on the map. "It follows a pattern, aside from Alhafra. In fact, if Madra and Alhafra were switched, I could bet that the next place they would go would be Yallam."

            "Should we go there, then?" Spring asked. "It seems likely—no pirate would take the risk of stronger monsters just to cross into the western sea."

            "You know nothing of pirates," Serac said confidently.

            "Neither do you."

            "Yes but I pegged you with it first."

            "You two are hopeless," Rime grumbled, hopping around on the map to get a better view. Picard placed his hand on the vacated corner before it could roll up on itself, glaring halfheartedly at Rime. 

            "Alright, you tactician. What have _you_ got to say?" Serac spat.

            "First of all, it's strategist, not tactician. Secondly…I agree—if indeed these pirates were following a pattern, Yallam—easily reached and not at all ready for a fight—would be their next target."

            "But?" Spring asked. Serac and Picard looked at her. She sighed. "With him, there's always a 'but'."

            "But, this isn't a pattern," Rime continued, right on cue. "They went to Alhafra before Madra, thus their attacks may be based on something other than following the coastline around the Eastern Sea."

            "But what?" Picard wondered aloud, running a finger along the pirates' path again. "Nothing I can think of makes any sense with this particular line."

            "They could be based in Alhafra," offered Spring.

            "I thought of that. But the mayor of Alhafra _hates_ pirates. With such a passion it is unbelievable. He'd never allow them to come from his own city." 

            "True. Perhaps they went there first to get him out of the way—perhaps they even did it at night, so they'd not have to deal with him," suggested Serac. 

            "Basically what we have come to," Rime put in, "is that we're as lost as you are, Picard." Picard sighed and recalled his Djinn, rolling up the map and placing it back on the shelf. 

            "Picard!" called a voice from outside. The Lemurian pulled open the door and stuck his head out. "No, up here!" He came all the way out of the room and looked up at Mia. "What do you know about boats?"

            "Now there's a question for the books," Isaac chuckled, looking up from wiping off the rails. "And, I might add, anyone who thinks a ship like this is going to benefit from being so clean I can see my face in the knotholes is completely gone."

            "I know a lot about boats," Picard settled for saying, deciding that making a joke out of it consisted of a bit too much in the way of complications. "You looking for anything specific?"

            "What do you know about pirate boats?" Mia asked, her voice carrying much less of a carefree tone this time.

            "Sheba!" called Picard, pulling himself as quickly as he could up the rope ladder leading up the mast. Sheba's head turned so fast her neck hurt—she'd never been summoned in that sort of voice before. And coming from Picard, that sort of tone almost drew you there through sheer force of speech. 

            If Mia had said it, Sheba would have been compelled to Teleport there with Psynergy. Shaking her head as she climbed the ladder opposite Picard, she sighed. _Mercury Adepts and their mysterious voice control_, she thought dryly. _Sometime I'll have to learn that_.

            Picard held on to the rim of the crows' nest with one hand and stood on the ladder with one foot, looking at the ship with his hand shading his eyes from the sunlight. He spotted a black flag with the pirate symbol—a skull over crossed bones—stitched on in blazing white. "That's it, alright. No other…ship would bear a flag like that."

            "And both of you fail to realize that there _are_ no other seagoing ships aside from this one and Picard's, and we're _on_ this one and Picard's not only has wings but is residing in Champa," Sheba pointed out.

            "Always ruining the fun, you are," Mia accused. "Besides, you're here to…Picard, why is she here?"

            "To pull their voices to us, as she did before," Picard stated. "After all…only they know where they will head next."

            Sheba closed her eyes and let go of the ropes completely; Mia grabbed her wrist before she could topple over backwards. With her other hand, Sheba began waving as though conducting a chorus, and slowly, the direction of the wind changed. After several long moments, scattered words returned. 

            Picard and Mia listened carefully. To their apparent dismay, none of the voices said a thing about their next destination. Sheba, however, sensing the voices as mush as hearing them, did not note the presence of the voice that had, before, defended Madra. 

            "Where is he…" she mumbled, but the words alone broke her concentration and her eyes snapped open, the voices fading. 

            "Where is who?" Mia asked, and Sheba frowned.

            "Last time, there was the voice of a man who spoke in defense of Madra. Said that Madra was none of his business or something like that. But I didn't hear his voice this time. That leads me to believe that their business with Madra is concluded," Sheba continued as she and Picard began to climb down. Unfortunately, the Jupiter Adept was overheard from below.

            "Do you suggest," said Briggs with venom in his tone, "that we abandon Madra?"

            "I suggest we alter course," Picard said before Sheba could get defensive. She'd never especially liked Briggs and it had only gotten worse. "We could, in a few hours' time, catch the pirates, provided we have clear skies and a bit of Psynergetic aid." 

            "Well you can suggest all you like," Briggs snapped. Picard's eyes widened, startled. "I'm the captain of this ship, and you will do as I say!" Speechless, Picard nodded. "Good. Now, I say to send two of your Adepts off with their…whatever it is…to Madra, right off the ship like I know they can do. But not you, Lemurian, and not your upstart little friend there either. Two of you, sort out the problems in Madra. The rest of you will stay here and help us catch the pirates."

            "Yes sir," Picard said with much emphasis—Sheba had begun to protest against Briggs claiming the idea for his own. Satisfied, the noble pirate turned and walked away.

            "Well, who will you send, Isaac?" Picard asked. The Venus Adept looked sheepishly out the door, caught eavesdropping. 

            "I suppose…well…I would say Mia and Jenna, to throw a bit of unpredictability the Madrans' way, but that leaves us…lacking, and it might send Jenna off on one of her 'equality' rampages again. Perhaps Felix and Mia. Or even Mia and myself"

            "Not Jenna? But she'll be useless on the water. Mars Psynergy and all," Felix added, coming out right behind Isaac. 

            "Ships are made of wood. I imagine she's very good at that sort of destruction," Isaac said with a hint of a grin. "Myself and…oh. Mia!" Isaac called. Mia looked out over the edge of the crows' nest. "Come on down here for a second!"

            Mia joined them, and Isaac outlined Briggs' plan. He did add his own interesting twists to it, however, so in the end, Mia and Isaac left with the Teleport Lapis for Madra, and Sheba climbed to the top of the mast again and called wind into the sails.

            "Now," said Briggs, smiling almost evilly as he rested his hands on the wheel. "Full sail! Today, we hunt pirates!"

            Colin and Andrew gave one another high-fives, then set to work with Felix and Picard, hauling up the sails. Jenna and Chaucha emerged from below, Jenna casually tossing a small object back and forth from hand to hand. 

            "What's that?" Felix asked, giving a final pull on the rope and letting Andrew tie it down. Jenna smirked.

            "Pound Cube," she said, holding out the grey, block-shaped stone, its edges glowing faintly red, in the palm of her hand. "They shall be smashed."

            "Just give us time to try to talk first, alright?" Felix asked, nearly taking a step back. Jenna was scary when she got in one of her battling moods.

            "If that's what Briggs plans," Colin reminded them. The Adepts looked at one another. They knew now what Briggs was like on a ship—confident and in total command, unquestionably leader. Could he, in a true fight against evil, be also passionately heartless and cruel?

            They came up nearly right behind the pirate ship only a few hours later, and Jenna and Picard stood at the bow, hands raised, waiting for their signal. A shrill whistle was heard, and Jenna sent forward a blast of Fume seconds after Picard dried the wood of the pirate ship with Parch. The boards began to catch fire, and the pirates scurried about, throwing all the water they could find onto the flames.

            Sheba, too, waited, and the sight of most of the fires going out was her signal. With a wave of her hand, she called down a Ray attack from the sky. The lightning bolts were small, compared to many other things she could do, but to the pirates it must have seemed as though the world had drawn to a stop.

            Felix was last, with a borrowed Djinni of Jenna's at his disposal. He extended both hands—in them, he held one of his ropes. "Growth!" The rope sprang forward, growing and thickening to be nearly two feet in diameter, and burst out across the gap between the pirate ship and Briggs' ship. Colin, Andrew, Picard and Jenna instantly began running across, though they did not draw their weapons (save Jenna—hers was a staff). 

            "Sheba!" Felix called, and the Jupiter Adept nodded and leapt down, landing gracefully and lightly on the deck, following the others across the rope at a run.

            Felix let the thick vine attach itself to the ship's deck, then ran across with Briggs on his heels. He kept one hand on his Excalibur, but made no move to draw it. He was instead focused on the pirates themselves.

            One of them had actually drawn his—it was a cutlass, Felix supposed—and was exchanging blows with Jenna. The fiery Adept was more than a match for any second-rate pirate, Felix noted—the staff landed one final smash on the back of the pirate's head, and he dropped.

            Something stopped Sheba as she rushed ahead, something out-of-place among the general chaos. One of the pirates stood calmly, his back against the door to the hold, with his eyes closed and…_and warm green light surrounding his hands_.

            _'Felix!'_ Sheba called, and the Venus Adept halted mid-punch, frozen in place. _'The pirates! They have a Venus Adept on their side!'_

            Felix, about to reply, suddenly found himself back in the moment and on the receiving end of a swing from his opponent's cutlass. _What is this, the standard pirate arms?_ Felix asked himself, moving as fast as he possibly could to get out of the way. However, he wasn't fast enough, and the blade sliced along his left side, tearing open his shirt and making him curse leaving his armor behind on Picard's ship as he felt the sharp edge on his skin.

            There was a flash of pain, and Felix dropped to his knees. Something had struck him in the shoulder. He reached behind him and felt the hilt of a dagger. Growling, he looked up and found the pirate who had cut him dropping to the deck. Jenna stood behind him, her staff held firmly in both hands. Jenna spotted Felix and gasped, the staff clattering to the deck—somehow they heard it amidst all the commotion—as she knelt by her brother.

            She muttered something, and there was a red flash. Felix sighed, assuming his sister had cast Cool Aura or something along those lines, but he felt no different. He heard Jenna say a word he hadn't known she knew, then dropped to the deck, not even conscious to hear himself hit it.

            "Where is it?" Jenna asked herself, glaring at both hands in utter frustration. With a scowl, she held them out and called, "Fume!" A very faint fiery dragon-shape shot from her hands, disappearing almost instantly. "I cannot be out of Psynergy already!" she shouted, grabbing the Tisiphone Edge from the deck and continuing to take out her frustration and, added to that, growing worry, on the dozen or so pirates that had gathered. One by one they hit the deck, none of them awake to notice it.

            Picard found he was having similar problems. Somewhere in all the chaos, he and Colin had been singled out by six or so pirates. Without his sword usable, Picard could do little but fire weak blasts of Psynergy—and suddenly, these were failing him. Could he really have run out so soon? 

            Sheba was the only one, standing as inconspicuously as possible while Andrew, somewhere off to the left, was smacking down pirates—there couldn't have been many left—with the flat of his sword, who knew approximately what had just happened to their Psynergy. The Venus Adept was surrounded by the glow now, and Sheba felt her ability to reach out with her mind diminishing by the second. She did the only thing she could think of, moving as fast as she dared.

            With a rather final-sounding thud, the end of her staff slammed into his temple. He dropped like a stone to the deck, the glow faded, and Sheba felt her Psynergy return with a rush. She turned to regard Andrew, but an odd thing happened then that made her stop.

            There were a few flickers of light, and Isaac and Mia appeared on the deck of the pirate ship, looking very bewildered. Mia instantly ran in one direction, Isaac in the other. Mia joined Jenna, now rather enjoying using her Fume to put smoking holes in the remaining available wood on the ship. Mia saw Felix and just barely stopped herself from gasping; Jenna caught her look and gave a quick nod. They stood one on either side of Felix and pulled him up, running for his vine with him practically hanging between them.

            Isaac found Picard and Colin surrounded by a group of pirates, taking hits on every side but returning none. Isaac rushed in behind the nearest pirate, simply running into him and letting the domino effect occur—three of the pirates, on the ground and dazed in one blow. Picard looked at Isaac thankfully, then dropped to his knees. Isaac moved to help him, but froze as a short sword swished over Picard's head, the very tip scoring a line across Isaac's forehead.

            Picard shifted his weight and launched himself backwards, taking out the pirate behind him as he went, and nearly going over the edge and into the black water. He managed to roll aside, however, and stood facing the remaining two pirates.

            "How many are there?" Isaac asked himself. "How many places could there possibly be to find pirates?"

            _'Adepts!'_ Sheba's voice rang clear in their minds. _'All of you, drop to the ground. I might hit you, too, otherwise.'_ Instead of questioning the voice in his mind, all five Adepts, plus Andrew, Colin, and Briggs, dropped. Almost immediately, faint images of Psynergy-created illusory sheep began their illusory stampede. Every pirate on board fell into a deep sleep.

            "Ha," Sheba said aloud. Jenna and Mia, with Felix, continued their run until they were across Felix's vine bridge, and the rest of them followed behind shortly. As soon as the last of them were across, Isaac took out the Teleport Lapis and looked at it. 

            "Where to?" he asked Mia, knowing that she now stood at his side.

            "Madra. It's closest. And the pirates won't go back there."

            "You're certain?"

            "Isaac, we _need_ to leave," Mia said, the underlying tone of her voice suggesting that if they didn't leave each and every one of them would regret it later. And not because she'd smack them around with Clotho's Distaff, either. 

            "Right," Isaac said with a nod. Waving the Teleport Lapis in a short arc, he smiled as the ship and all its current residents faded into little balls of light. The next thing he saw was the beach just southeast of Madra. 

*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{

            It was later that night, and Isaac sat in front of a fire in the common room of Madra's Inn. Jenna and Picard sat there too; Jenna was sipping a mug of some hot liquid, staring at the fire as though deep in thought, and Picard sat with his legs over one arm of his chair and his back against the other, a book held open on his lap. 

            Isaac sighed, looking at the dagger he held in his hand. It had a hilt wrapped in some sort of leather, and on the bottom was a strange insignia—an A and a B overlaid on one another, in turn overlaid on the design of a sailing ship. It'd been washed off, of course, and Isaac had taken it to look at it for any sort of recognizable clue as to who these pirates were and where they'd come from—so far, he wasn't getting much of anywhere. 

            "It was like old times," Jenna said softly. Isaac and Picard both looked up at her. "Felix, Sheba, and you and me, Picard. Like when we were all wandering around together. Everything about that battle all happened in perfect synchronous harmony, like it used to be, once we all got used to one another."          

            "It was like that with us too," Isaac agreed, remembering his earlier travels. Jenna suddenly stood up and marched angrily over to Isaac, standing very overpoweringly in front of him, arms folded, face locked in a scowl. "Yes?"

            "The minute you and Mia showed up, it all fell to pieces! Odd stuff started happening with my Psynergy, and Felix went down, and the pirates started winning, all because you threw it off. You and _her_."

            "Jenna, I think you've got a few things backwards," Isaac began, standing also to somewhat dissipate the total control Jenna seemed to feel when she towered over the seated Isaac. 

            "I have nothing backwards! And if you hadn't interfered with us at Contigo, we wouldn't have had to go all the way through the Eastern Sea again looking for the keys to unlocking summons! Saturos and Menardi might still be alive! Karst and Agatio might never have died!"

            "_It is not my fault, Jenna_!" Isaac cried, taking a step forward. The Mars Adept didn't back down an inch. Isaac, eyes blazing, brought his voice back under control. "I did not cause any of that. I know you're worried about Felix, we all are, but Mia promised he'd be fine, and I trust her, and so should you, especially after all this time. I don't know what else to tell you, because right now everything you're saying is completely absurd."

            "Don't you dare talk to me like that, Isaac!" Jenna screeched, her hand rising without her even noticing. "You know nothing of how it was, or how it is! Nothing! To life every day of your life wondering if you'll see the next one, if your family will see the next one, knowing that they're out there somewhere but you can't do a thing to save them…you just don't _know_, Isaac!" Jenna finished at maximum volume, and abruptly her hand came around fast, connecting with Isaac's face with enough power to run him into the chair and flip it over backwards.

            Picard looked at Jenna for a few seconds, but she refused to look back. Tears stung her eyes—she couldn't face either of them right now. Letting out a soft sob, Jenna ran up the stairs, leaving Picard staring after her.

            Setting his book down, the Lemurian swung himself out of his chair and walked over to where Isaac lay flat on his back on the floor, staring dazedly at the ceiling and with a bright red handprint on his face. Picard studied the Venus Adept for a moment, then held out a hand. Isaac took it and pulled himself back up, sitting in Picard's offered chair. Picard himself righted Isaac's former chair and sat in it.

            "Are you angry?" Picard asked finally. Isaac paused for a few moments before speaking.

            "No. I think…I think Jenna's needed to do that for a long, long time, and better she do it to me, explode at me, than at you or Garet or Ivan. I mean…if it had been Garet, she'd either be in a fistfight right now or feel so angry with herself she wouldn't be able to speak. If it had been Ivan, she'd have felt like a bully, picking on someone who really didn't deserve it. And if it had been you…all things aside, Picard, I'm willing to bet you're her closest friend. She couldn't face you, not if she'd yelled at you when you did nothing, then slapped you across the face and knocked half your lights out. And she certainly couldn't complain to Felix." Isaac reached up and gently touched the side of his face, flinching. 

            "So she chose you," Picard continued for him. "Quite unintentionally, but it does make sense. She'll still be able to live with herself, tomorrow morning, and she might not feel too bad about hitting you because she knows that you will understand why she had to do it."

            "Besides, we should know not to get her too near a fireplace," Isaac added, smiling with the unmarked half of his face. 

            "Toss me that book, will you?" Picard asked. Isaac lifted the book from the floor and studied the title, then gently threw it over. "Thanks."

            For about a half hour more, they sat in silence, Picard reading, Isaac seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Picard marked his page and closed the book, looking up at Isaac and finding that the Venus Adept had fallen asleep. _Probably shortly after we stopped talking_, Picard thought. 

            Mia came down the stairs then, very quietly; in fact seemingly quiet on purpose. Picard stood and smiled, nodding at Isaac and heading for the stairs, to his own bed and a sleep he really felt like getting. 

            Mia gently woke Isaac, noting with some curiosity the large red splotch on his face, but she attributed it to his sleeping in a different position prior to her arrival. Isaac smiled tiredly at her, and they walked back up the stairs together.

            "Felix?" Isaac asked in a whisper.

            "He'll be alright. He might not be up for much tomorrow, but the day after, sure."

            "That's good," Isaac said, smiling again. He reached over and put his arm around Mia's shoulders. "Do you know how glad I am to have you here?"

            "What, so I can keep on saving the life of your silence-inclined counterpart?" Mia asked with a hint of a smile. Isaac pulled her closer.

            "No, so you can save mine," he said slyly. Mia laughed softly. They reached the top of the stairs, and Isaac slowly pulled his arm away, heading into the room he'd been given to share with Felix.

            "Look here, you," he said to Felix's pale-but-sleeping form. "If something happens and I sleep through it, Jenna will give me such a bashing I'll be thrown into next month. So please be loud enough to wake me up if something goes wrong."

            Getting and expecting no response from Felix, Isaac assumed it was an agreement and, after dumping his armor and such on the ground, fell into much-anticipated sleep.

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	4. Prisoner of Few Words

Silver and Gold

A/N: Only two reviews? …Ah well. That's the breaks, I suppose. You're all looking forward to this chapter anyway…right? 

Chapter Four: Prisoner of Few Words

            "Defeated? On the sea? By who? Who else has a boat, let alone one that can defeat our pirates?!"

            "Them, milord. The Adepts, and that Briggs from Champa. Barbaus says that the Adepts trailed the ship after it left Madra, and attacked in broad daylight." 

            "Barbaus has been more trouble than the entire _crew_ is worth for six years and more, now. I'm tired of that arrogant would-be pirate."

            "Begging your pardon, milord, but Captain Barbaus is one of the finest there ever was. And I haven't gotten to all of the bad news, anyway."

            "There's _more_?!" 

            "There is, milord. You remember that young man who joined up, the one from Madra? Oh, what was his name…"

            "Victor, you mean? That upstart kid?"

            "Yes. It seems that the scoundrel Briggs has taken him prisoner. Well, they assume that—he's no longer on the ship, at any rate, milord."

            "Well, well, well. See that Champa pays good for this, man."

            "With pleasure, milord."

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            The next morning dawned rather cold, and Sheba found herself shivering as she hurried down the stairs of the Inn and into the warm common room, choosing one of the tables and waiting for any of the others to arrive.

            Picard came next, whistling a jumpy little tune as he grabbed a plate of food and sat across the table from Sheba. She grinned.

            "You're in a good mood this morning," she said, and Picard paused with his next bite halfway to his mouth.

            "I slept. Also, I did not spend half my night being harassed by a noble privateer about getting up and watching out for who-knows-what. I am in a wonderful mood." Picard nodded, then continued eating. Sheba giggled.

            "Good morning everyone," said Mia, a smile on her face as well, as she joined Sheba and Picard. In her hands were a roll and a piece of fruit, and she set them on the table in a very cheerful way.

            "Almost like old times, isn't it?" she asked them, grinning so much it looked as though it might start to hurt after a few seconds.           

            "You alright, Mia?" Sheba asked dryly. Mia attempted to glare, but of course she couldn't pull it off—she was in far too good a mood. Nothing let her sleep quite as well as knowing that they'd all be there in the morning when she went down for breakfast. Going _down_ for breakfast was another nice thing—too often, it had been a matter of coming _up_, and no one really ever wanted to climb stairs in the morning. 

            Isaac came next, followed shortly by Felix and Jenna, and the six Adepts shared breakfast, with Sheba and Picard recounting stories of the previous day's battle, Felix sitting there wishing he hadn't missed it and Jenna looking increasingly more uncomfortable. 

            Finally, Isaac couldn't stand it. "Jenna, what's wrong?" he asked. Both Jenna and Picard stared at him as though he'd lost his mind. Then it clicked in Jenna's head, and she smiled. 

            "I was just thinking…why didn't we capture the pirates, too? Why did Briggs let them get away? What did he see…or know…that would make him leave them all behind?"

            "Did Briggs truly make that call?" Picard asked. "There was a bit of chaos going on, and I was more concerned with dealing with the pirates." 

            "Apparently. Otherwise he'd have shown up to bite our heads off for cowardice, or something," said Felix, smiling for the first time that morning. "Speaking of that, why did our 'esteemed captain'—sorry Picard—remain on board with his wife and crewmen last night? It's not like he's incompetent on dry land."

            "The ship, huh?" Sheba asked, standing. Isaac groaned. Sheba and Ivan might have been very different, but they were alike in a few respects, and this was one of them—both of them got that exhilarated look in their eyes when they were about to uncover something particularly intriguing. 

            "Shall we go?" Felix asked, looking much more enthusiastic. "I'm curious, as well. Briggs might be a decent seaman after all, but he was never one for secretiveness concerning…well, anything. What's so different about now?"

            "Either he just didn't think it was important enough to bother us with," began Jenna.

            "Or he knows it's something we wouldn't like," finished Isaac. There was a unanimous nod, and the rest of them rose, though Jenna grabbed a roll before following the others out the door. 

            "In honor of Garet's absence?" Isaac asked with a grin.

            "In honor of missing dinner last night," Jenna corrected. Her face grew serious again as they walked out of Madra and headed for the beach where the boat was 'docked'. "Listen, Isaac, about last night—"

            "Don't worry about it," Isaac said casually. "The only problem is that we have to teach you to be less violent." Jenna looked at him, appalled. Isaac laughed. "See. I was only joking."

            They arrived at the ship to find it eerily silent—neither of the Champan crewman were on deck, nor were Briggs or Chaucha. However, the door to the hold was open just slightly—a soft wind from Sheba pushed it open wider. As quietly as possible, the Adepts crept inside and down the stairs.

            Sheba got to the bottom first, Mia close behind, and the latter's hand closed around the former's arm to stop her from running forward. Instead, all in a line, they walked slowly down the hall and into the backmost room, where they found Chaucha and the seamen sitting on crates.

            "What is it?" Mia asked quietly—even a normal-level voice wouldn't have felt right in this room, somehow. Chaucha looked up and shook her head.

            "He's got some pirate in there," she said, gesturing to the room with the tightly closed door. "Apparently he took one prisoner. Trying to get the boy to talk."

            "Boy?"

            "_Talk_?" Isaac and Mia had asked their questions at the very same time. Isaac's carried the tone of general curiosity, though, while Mia's was definitely one of barely-controlled anger. "What do you mean, talk?"

            "About the other pirates, their agenda, their attack style, anything," Chaucha began, but Mia had already walked up to the door and begun shoving. Soon, Felix and Jenna moved to help her. Sheba, Isaac and Picard watched for a few moments, all of them looking quite frightened when Jenna turned and demanded to know why they weren't helping.

            Picard stepped up to the door, took hold of the knob, twisted, and pulled. The door swung open with barely a creak. "Oh," mumbled Jenna, her face red. Picard simply smiled, though his eyes sparkled with held-back laughter. "Watch it or I'll decide not to save your sorry self next time," Jenna went on, bringing to Picard's mind images of the battle on Sinelsol Island. 

            Mia had already continued through the door, fists clenching as though she was holding her staff (it had been left in the small room where she slept on the ship, unfortunately not the one she was currently in). The sight that met her eyes, however, was far from what she had expected.

            Propped up against a small crate, his hands bound behind him, was a boy, perhaps only a little older than Felix, with sandy-brown hair pulled loosely back from his face and a very pitiful look about him. His face was to the floor—Mia couldn't see his eyes.

            Still, anger quickly took over again. "Briggs!" she yelled, locking eyes with the sailor, drawing herself to her full height (never mind that she was half a foot or more shorter than he) and frowning. The temperature of the room dropped noticeably—Briggs's breath appeared as little puffs in the air.  

            "You're n-n-not making it any easier f-f-for him, th-th-th-there," Briggs said through chattering teeth. Mia, apparently not noticing the cold at all, continued her verbal assault.

            "Well I can bet you aren't either! What business have you trying to make some kid _talk_?" Mia put special emphasis on that last word, wanting to make sure Briggs got the point. "He's only a kid! Well, granted, older than I am, but still! What are you, some sort of…common criminal?"

            "Now look h-h-here!" said Briggs, rubbing his hands together to keep them from going numb. "I d-d-don't know what it is y-you think I d-d-d-did, but all I w-w-was doing was talking. Ask h-h-him. He'll t-t-tell you." 

            Mia looked down at the boy, frowning as though feeling rather stupid, and the room returned to its usual semi-warmness. She knelt in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and her eyes met a pair the color of spring's new leaves. His head nodded quickly, then his gaze met the floor again. 

            Mia took hold of Briggs's wrist in an iron grip that it was hard to picture her having, and led him very forcefully to the door. In fact, she led him through it, with a very serene expression on her face, and released his wrist, which he immediately grasped with his own hand, flinching.

            Mia and the rest of the Adepts crowded into the small room, with Mia and Picard in front. Picard did much as Mia had just done, kneeling in front of the boy. This time, when he looked up, his eyes sprang open wide and he made to back away. He was against a heavy crate, however, and thus did not succeed.

            "Picard scares him?" Felix asked. "That's odd. If anyone would scare him, I'd guess it to be Jenna."

            "Very funny," Jenna said dryly.

            "I thought so." 

            "Look," said Picard, unfazed by the captured pirate's attempt to get away, "we're not like Briggs back there. All we want is to help you. And if Felix is right and you are afraid of me, not only is it fear without cause but if Ivan hears about it later he'll get a real kick out of it. And I do so hate it when Ivan is one up on me," the Lemurian added with a grin.

            "He's got you twice over, remember," Sheba said. "Once that time in Magma Rock and once just now, if he ever hears about it."

            "So if you would not mind, perhaps you might stop trying to escape. You would not get far, even if Briggs were not right outside this door," Picard went on, ignoring Sheba as well.

            Jenna pulled a dagger out of one boot, and the boy truly looked afraid for a few seconds, before apparently regaining himself and letting the defiant look return to his face. Reaching behind the boy, Jenna shook any other thoughts having to do with that particular dagger away and cut the ropes that tied the boy's hands. He instantly reacted, bringing both his hands out, one of them balled into a fist and catching Jenna right in the eye.

            "Some way of saying thanks," Jenna muttered, blinking. "Leave it," she said to Felix, who was trying to squish between Isaac and a stack of crates to get to her. "He doesn't have enough strength in him to hurt anyone."

            "Look here," Mia said, putting the ice-spire edge back into her voice, though only barely. "Whoever you are, you might want to tell us your name, it might help, anyway, whoever you are, you're not in any position to be trying anything aggressive because I have every right to just leave you here for a while and maybe even turn you back over to your pirate crew after they've been defeated _how does that sound_?"

            "Did that scare you?" Isaac asked Picard.

            "Why should it have, again?" the Lemurian replied.

            "Mia doesn't babble. Nor does she shift into that voice in this sort of situation. If I didn't know she wouldn't hurt me, I'd be mortally terrified." 

            "I think he is, if it's any consolation," Picard offered. Indeed, the pirate looked as though he'd rather have let Briggs stay than had to put up with this. "Now there's an idea we should have had a long time ago," Picard continued, snapping his fingers. "Sheba!"

            "That is the second time you've done that to me in as many days!" Sheba cried, rather shocked. "If you're going to yell my name, go on ahead, but _not_ in that voice."

            "I only have one voice."

            "No. You have several. There's the confused one, which is now, and the determined, sea-captain mercury-attacker take-down-the-monsters voice, and the I'm-tired-don't-bother-me-voice, plus a few more, and this one. The we've-got-a-problem voice. And it isn't just you, Picard. All of you do it."

            "I never knew you spent so much time analyzing how we speak."

            "I get _bored_ on that ship all day. And you were saying?"

            "Read his mind."

            "Picard!" Mia said, frowning at him. "That's…unethical."

            "It's a good plan," argued Jenna. "After all, we can't get him to talk any other way."

            While the rest of them broke into an argument about whether or not to maintain strict morals, Sheba held out one hand and cast Mind Read. What she found astonished her. She could barely stop herself from prying, though she managed to—this kid's life (some kid—he was nineteen) must have been beyond belief.

            '_Stop_,' came Sheba's mental request. Because Garet and Ivan were absent, the arguing abated almost instantly. All eyes focused on her.

            "First of all, asking him for answers will get you nothing. He can't speak." Someone—Sheba was betting on Mia—gasped. "Remember that voice that spoke in defense of Madra, a few days ago? That was him, and when they raided Madra and he tried to stop them, the other Venus Adept knocked him out, and when he came to they were sailing away from Alhafra and he couldn't speak anymore."

            The rest of the Adepts looked at the boy, who, sensing his defeat, nodded. It was true. "Furthermore, and I know you'll ask, he has no idea where the pirates are from or who they're working for. He got on the ship in Madra, because they were looking for a Venus Adept to repair their ship."

            "I knew the Champans put up some sort of fight," Felix said quietly. 

            "So they took him and didn't let him go back, and their captain—Barbaus by name—gave him his word that they'd not go near Madra again. So when they did, of course he argued. Thus, he is here, as you see him."

            "Felix."

            "Yes Jenna?"

            "Hold me back, Felix. Don't let me get out there. Out on the deck. I'll hunt the pirates down and _destroy_ the Adept that did this and his puny captain."

            "Good," said Felix, true anger in his voice. For a moment, the others wondered if the siblings wouldn't be racing to the door to see who'd get to bash pirates first. Felix was disgusted, not to mention furious. No self-respecting Venus Adept would mess with another one, especially not by taking away that other one's voice. 

            "Shall I continue?" Sheba asked. Isaac nodded. "His name is Victor, and yes, he _is_ a Venus Adept, though without his voice his Psynergy is a bit limited. And no, I didn't see anything else in your head, and yes I know you're disgusted with me for doing it, but now they'll all leave you alone." Those last two remarks had been directed at the pirate, at Victor.

            "Picard," Mia asked as much as stated, meeting the Lemurian's gold eyes with her own blue ones.

            "Let me guess," he replied, frowning. "It's not an easy idea."

            "No, but then again things rarely ever are anymore. Worth a try, is it?"

            "It'd take some real thought, and possibly Sheba's help. Maybe even Felix and Isaac. For that matter, we're all here, it may take all of us."

            "They're talking in some kind of code," Isaac surmised in a very determined voice. "One I don't understand in the least. But we're involved, apparently."

            "Should we wait for Garet and Ivan?" Mia continued.

            "And risk the entire ship exploding?" Jenna threw in. Sheba giggled.

            "Do you understand what they're saying, Jenna?" Felix asked.

            "Not in the least. But when opportunity comes along, I might as well take it."

            "Do you think we could pull it off?" Mia asked, a sparkle in her blue eyes. Isaac knew that look. It fell somewhere between excitement, fear and a desire to meet the challenge. Of course, this didn't enlighten Isaac any further as to the topic of discussion.

            "As I said, it will require some thought," Picard replied, turning to head out the door. "I suspect that right now, we're all anxious to head back to Champa, which we will do," he added in a louder voice—he was correct in assuming Briggs was still just outside the door—"and hopefully Garet and Ivan won't prove useless." To this last comment he added a wink, just to make sure Jenna didn't attack him for insulting her 'boyfriend'. 

            "Uh-uh, Isaac," Mia said as he moved to follow the rest of them out the door and up the stairs. "You stay." Isaac made a sad face, to which Mia only shrugged, grinning. "You're the only other person he doesn't run from," she offered in cheerful explanation.

            "In your element, are you?" Isaac asked sourly. As though on cue, the boat began to move. "I give up! They're all against me!"

            "Look at it this way," said Mia, still smirking. "They're all against you and life isn't too bad. Think how terrible it would be if they were all _for_ you."

            "I can only imagine," Isaac said dryly.

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            "Are we close yet?"

            "How should I know? You're the one looking out the window."

            "The window's all covered in sea spray. And it isn't a window, either, it's a pothole." 

            "Portal, I should think."

            "I tell you, it's a mothball!" 

            "_Porthole_," said Shade in a very forceful voice. "It's called a porthole. But that one's probably an actual window. And yes, we're close to Champa."

            "How can you tell?" asked Echo—he had initiated the question.

            "The currents below us have changed."

            On deck, the Adepts were discovering much the same thing, except they could _see_ Champa as it came into view. Picard frowned, and after a moment of looking, the others could see why—his ship was nowhere in sight. 

            There was, however, a small figure on the beach, waving excitedly. Squinting, Sheba could make out Ivan, and soon enough he was joined by three other figures—Garet, Obaba and a Champan that she didn't know. 

            "Garet!" Jenna yelled happily as they got closer. Garet smiled and waved back excitedly. When the ship grounded itself in the sand, Jenna jumped of the ship and gasped, nearly falling over. "Garet!" This time her cry was one of shock and worry. "What _happened_?"

            "Pirates," Garet said sourly, returning Jenna's tight hug with his one usable arm. He gasped quietly as Jenna hugged tighter. "Hey, don't squeeze so much. I'll start leaking or something." 

            "I knew there was something!" Mia said, snapping her fingers and silently yelling at herself for being so forgetful. "Oh well. Can't be helped. Ivan?" Mia looked at the Jupiter Adept, who smiled weakly back at her. "You're not supposed to be here," Mia guessed. Ivan's grin widened somewhat. 

            "Well, stories can wait, then," said Isaac, last Adept to leave the ship. With him was Victor, who still walked with a bit of a limp and, of course, said nothing, and behind him came Chaucha, the Champan sailors, and Briggs. 

            "Listen here," Mia said, turning to Briggs with that almost predatory light in her eyes. "I want no trouble from the rest of the Champans about Victor. None. If there is, it's on your head." 

            "And you won't like her when she's mad," Ivan added in a soft but mischievous voice.

            "He doesn't like her _now_," Sheba muttered, giggling. "Out of all of us, Mia scares him the most."

            "How did we get here, again?" Felix asked, as though it had just dawned on him that they hadn't come here on purpose. 

            "The Djinn blew us over here and wrecked the ship, so we went with Briggs to chase the pirates that had captured Kraden…_Kraden_!" Isaac repeated, slamming his forehead with his hand. "How could I have for..scratch that. Sheba…well, with his permission, of course, does Victor know anything about Kraden?" 

            Sheba looked at Victor, who nodded, and she used Mind Read, closing her eyes for a moment, then opening them and frowning. "Hard to say," was all she came up with, adding a shrug. "He heard things in his sleep one night about some annoying old man, but that's it. By the time he was awake there was no longer an old man on board."

            "So they must have left Kraden in their hiding spot. Where do you suppose they come from?" Felix asked.

            "Where is my ship?" Picard questioned Obaba while the others held their discussion.

            "Farther along the coast, near the Ankohl Ruins. It's repaired—we'd just finished about an hour before the attack began. Ivan tested the wings and both of them work perfectly." 

            "That's good," Picard nodded in agreement, cocking an eyebrow at the old woman. "There is something you are not telling."

            "There is indeed," she said, looking sadly at the ground and giving the sand a halfhearted thump with her staff. Picard then noticed that the staff had actually been broken more than once and was tied back together with some string. "However, I shall wait until Briggs discovers it for himself."

            The entire crowd of them walked back to the main Champan complex, Chaucha generously offering the Adepts spare rooms in the cliffside for the night, instead of the Inn. 

            Mia saw to Garet and Ivan, muttering all the while under her breath about things that neither of them understood. Meanwhile, Picard found the map of Weyard that had been Felix's and spread it on a table in the adjoining room, the rest of the Adepts and Victor gathered around it.

            "Makes no sense," Isaac said, frowning. "There was a pattern. Then they went to Alhafra and broke the pattern, but then they went to Madra and reestablished it. Yallam would thus be the next likely target, but instead, they return to Champa. It makes no sense."

            "The things that happen to us rarely ever make sense, Isaac," Picard pointed out.

            "No need to rub it in." 

            "How did you ever do it without us?" Ivan asked, walking into the room looking good as new, and grinning like his old self. "The arguments must have been insanely dull."

            "_You_ try convincing Felix to get off the ship at Daila," Isaac mumbled. Before Ivan could reply, there was a pounding on the door. Isaac stood and opened it, and Briggs rushed in, a dagger in his hand. He lifted Victor off the floor by his shirt and held the dagger at his throat.

            "_What have your people done with my son_?" Briggs demanded. There was a general disapproval of these actions throughout the room—every Adept was out of his or her seat, and Jenna had even taken a few steps forward, flames flickering around her clenched fists.

            "How can he know, Briggs?" Jenna demanded, her voice hard, its tone full of the impression of a volcano about to erupt. "He was with us. And _what in the name of Mars are you talking about_?"

            "Obaba tells me the pirates came and took Eoleo away," Briggs said in a quieter voice. "And you!" he added, once again roaring, only this time dropping Victor and heading for Ivan, dagger point hovering over his chest. Briggs' free hand wrapped around his arm in a grip that Ivan thought might bend steel if given the chance. The Jupiter Adept flinched as the dagger came closer.

            Mia and Garet chose this moment to walk in, staring with eyes wide, as Briggs continued. "Why didn't you protect him? Why didn't you stop them?" 

            "Briggs," Mia said calmly, the ice-shard edge and trademark temperature decline completely missing from her voice. The sailor stopped then, lowered his dagger and let Ivan go. "Shame for you to give me _more_ work to do," she added quietly. 

            Briggs sank into one of the chairs, head in his hands. The dagger fell to the table, and Felix picked it up, looking at it. "Hey! This is the dagger the pirates got me with. It has the sign on the bottom. The A-B and the sailing ship."

            Victor looked up suddenly, hurrying over and grabbing the dagger away from Felix. He looked at the bottom of the handle and gasped. Tapping his head with two fingers, he told Sheba where the dagger had come from as soon as he heard her ask.

            "It belongs to him. Not Victor," Sheba continued, seeing the perplexity on everyone's faces. "To their captain. To Barbaus."

            "A-B," Isaac whispered. "The B must stand for Barbaus, and the ship would of course be the pirate vessel. Might the A represent Barbaus's first name?" he asked Victor, who nodded. "So. Captain A. Barbaus. I wonder if it was him who actually threw the dagger."

            "Can we not dwell on it?" Felix asked rather weakly.

            "Sure." Isaac was about to continue, but was stopped by a peculiar sound. It wasn't a pounding on the door or a gasp of surprise. It wasn't the unrolling of a map or the turning of a knob. It wasn't even the crackle of the fire the Adepts were using partially for warmth and partially as a light source.

            It was the sound of Briggs sobbing. Victor nodded and silently tapped the man on the shoulder, motioning for the noble pirate to follow him. Winking at the others, Victor led Briggs back to his room. 

            Upon his return, the Adepts talked long into the night, swapping stories first and then discussing exactly what they were going to do about the pirates, Kraden, Eoleo and Briggs. 

            "One thing really bugs me, though," Garet said, and the others all looked at him. "They're pirates. They've raided cities, towns, villages…taken hostages, and even permanently disabled a member of their own crew. Apparently they'll stop at nothing to get what they want."

            "So what bothers you?" Jenna asked.

            "What do they want?" The Adepts looked at one another. Try as they might, not one of them could give an answer.

**********************************(((~{********************************


	5. So Much to Lose

Silver and Gold

A/N: Whee! Chapter five—only two more to go after this! And this is one of those kind with the…well, I'll not tell you this time…heh…

Only three reviews? I'm crushed…but I'll answer them all…

**Midnight:** Actually, Garet gets pretty good with the reasoning in this story. I figure it's time he grew up a bit, anyway. But don't worry, he'll stay his usual Garet self most of the time. And ironically enough, you find out part of what the pirates are after in this chapter…

**Jupiter Sprite:** Is Victor getting his voice back? Hard to say, really. How would he go about it? I mean…the pirates were pretty thorough in ridding him of it…and you won't really hear a lot about what happened to Garet and Ivan (very little of it was exciting) unless I put in a paragraph or two in the last chapter. Sorry.

**Alexditto:** Cheesy? Nah. Just a bit of authoress expression. And yes, Sour, it does save on dialogue costs. However, Sheba has to read minds much more frequently because of this. 

On with you! And please, please, PLEASE…REVIEW! Or else, you may never discover Barbaus's greatest secret…

Chapter Five: So Much to Lose

            "The prize is ours, milord. We have his son and his old man, and he's bound to come for them."

            "I hear tell that they know not from where our pirates come. Is this true?" 

            "I believe so, milord. The boy cannot give us away because he lacks voice."

            "_What_? What is that idiot Barbaus doing on that ship? I'll kill—"

            "Now, now, milord, no need to be violent. It is simple. We will lure them to us with our ship. It will be easy to outrun their slow merchant vessel."

            "I have a much better plan."

            "You do, milord?"

            "Oh yes. Bring me the fastest runner you've got, and then bring a paper and pen. I've a message to send to Yallam with all speed."

            "I'll get right on it, milord."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

            "Stop running about, Briggs!" Chaucha pleaded. The seaman was pacing the floor frantically, searching his mind for anything, any solution, that would bring his son back. In the process he'd remained awake most of the night, tripped over the same throw rug ten times and run smack into the wall twice.

            "I can't. I just can't. The pirates have Eoleo. Who knows what they're doing to him?"

            "It's likely he's ransom, sir," said Colin; he and Andrew were also present in the room. "They're after you, whoever they are, and they're trying to use Eoleo and perhaps even Kraden as bait." 

            "He'd never go after that old man," Andrew added. "Maybe they figured that out." There was a knock on the door. Colin rose and opened it, letting Picard, Mia and Isaac in, filling them in quickly on what had just been said.

            "It is like a puzzle, except that now we have most of the pieces," Picard said, nodding as though confirming something to himself. "It all begins to fit."

            "Right," agreed Isaac. "They wanted Briggs in the first place, so first they lured him away with an attack on nearby Izumo. While he and Chaucha and Eoleo were in Izumo trying to help them, they came here, looking to harm his people and perhaps even take a hostage that meant something to them. So they took Kraden."

            "Except they got annoyed with Kraden very quickly," Mia went on. "And when you showed up then, in the ocean with no apparent desire to bargain or parley, but instead loosed your cannons, so to speak, on all the pirates, they realized that something more was needed."

            "Or perhaps they only wanted revenge for capturing one of theirs," Isaac added.

            "So while you require a stay in Madra, or at least your crew members do, their ship, faster and making much better time, returns to Champa and stages another attack. Only this time they know that you have left your son behind, and they have clear plans to abduct him. And they do," Picard continued, snapping his fingers. "They have him, and you are in exactly the mood they want you in. They want you to come after him."

            "But who _are_ they?" Colin asked. 

            "That's what we don't know. I mean, we know that Barbaus is their captain, and they have at least one Adept on board and we've got another one they used to have. They're a vicious bunch too, though that's an assumption based on both the fight you had with them and the fact that they would permanently disable a member of their own crew simply because he spoke out in defense of his home." 

            "But they are also pirates," said Picard. "That means they are likely working for pay, because simply getting you, Briggs, would give them no great reward." The sleep-deprived Briggs made a rush at Picard, one fist swinging, but Picard's hand caught the fist before it even came close. "Pirates operate on the principle that there shall be no work done without pay. Simply catching you pays them nothing. _Someone_ must be willing to pay a good sum for your deliverance to them."

            "But who?" Chaucha asked. "Who could be after Briggs? We haven't raided anywhere in months!" 

            "I really don't know. But we mostly came here with a proposition," Mia added, and Briggs looked at her with a plea in his eyes. "We want to know if you two would like to come with us on Picard's ship, to chase those pirates down and get them once and for all. If you do, we'd leave tomorrow morning as soon as we could."

            "Not today?" Briggs asked in a raspy voice.

            "Come off it," Mia and Chaucha said at the same time. Both of them laughed, then Chaucha continued. "You think they'd take you anywhere with no sleep?" 

            "It should be today," Briggs insisted. "We have to get our son back today."

            "I'm really sorry for this, Briggs," Picard said, standing and walking towards the man. He held out his hand as though to put it on the noble pirate's shoulder, but instead brought it up near his face and clapped his other hand against it, setting off the Sleep Bomb. Briggs had enough time to utter one curse, then he dropped like a stone onto his bed.

            Colin, Andrew and Chaucha stared at Picard, approval and a measure of surprise on their faces. "That one, Jenna taught me," Picard said, grinning slyly. "Apparently she finds it useful to use in dealing with people who will not comply."

            "Was that a Ply joke?" Mia asked after a moment.

            "If I were Ivan, it could have been."

            "That does remind me," Mia said, a look of thoughts turned inward appearing on her face. "Chaucha, does Champa have a library?"

            "We do, but it is not large," Chaucha answered. "Up one level higher than this, and on your right side. If you find something you need," she added, "feel free to take it with you." 

            "Thanks." With that, the three Adepts walked out. Picard paused at the door, looking back at the expectant crewmen, and nodded. Yes, they could come too.

            Much later that day, Mia found herself climbing the stairs to the topmost level of the cliffside complex part of Champa. She'd been busy in the town all day, as had every other Adept except Garet (and it wasn't his fault) and Victor, doing whatever needed to be done. Any other time, she'd relish the chance to be able to sit in a comfy chair with a good book. However, the reason she was coming up here gave her as much of a headache as her current lack of Psynergy did.

            She reached the door to the library and found it already half-open. She pushed it open the rest of the way and walked in, scanning the few shelves she walked by, looking for anything she might use. 

            "Mia." The voice startled her, and she jumped, spinning around to find Picard sitting in a chair in his usual sideways way, with his back against one of its arms and his knees over the other one, a book in his hands. "Here. This might help us."

            Walking over to him, she spotted a few other books in a small pile on the floor, and lifted one, opening it to the first page and squinting at the small writing. "How do you do it without light?" she asked Picard. "I can barely make out the words. And how did you get away from any of the work you were doing so early?"

            "I finished fast," he said, putting his book on the floor, still open to the page he'd been on. "And it isn't that dark in here, Mia. Besides…I do not know if any of these books can tell us anything. We are Adepts, and the authors likely weren't; it is also unlikely that they ever had to deal with this sort of thing before."            

            "Did you know you spoke with an accent?" Mia asked, blinking tired eyes. Picard sighed, smiling a little.

            "So I'm told." He made a mental note of the page he'd been on, just in case, and closed the book, placing it on a pile with the others. "Did you know you speak much like a distracted Jupiter Adept when you tire?"

            "No, I didn't. What makes you say that?" 

            "Mia."

            "Did you know that was my name?"

            "_Mia!_" Mia's eyes snapped all the way open. That voice hadn't been Picard's. But whose was it? Mia hadn't nearly finished searching her tired mind when the face that the voice belonged to appeared in front of her. It still took her a moment or two to sort it out.

            "Felix," she said finally, resolutely. Felix raised one eyebrow, but apparently decided to continue speaking.

            "Mia, the Champans are looking high and low for you. Apparently something's happened. You've been up here all this time? You have to get back down there!" It was a mark of his own exhaustion that Felix even considered raising his voice. 

            "I will go," Picard said, before Mia and Felix could launch into an argument brought on by lack of energy or before Mia fell asleep on her way down some stairs. "Come on, Felix. Oh, and Mia, go to bed," he added. The other Mercury Adept looked up at him, nearly stunned. "What? Have I never said that to you before?"

            "I don't recall," Mia mumbled after thinking about it for a while. Still, she stood and headed for the stairs, followed by Picard and Felix. 

            Jenna looked up as Mia entered the room they shared, frowning. "You're a mess," she said, as consolingly as possible. Mia didn't answer, causing Jenna to frown even more. "Are you alright?"

            "Tired," was all she offered, going into the bedroom and collapsing on her bed, asleep almost instantly. Jenna shrugged, then went back to cleaning off her dagger. She looked at it, glaring almost at the darker-tinted metal, then laughing as the words associated with that dagger ran through her mind.

            Sheba walked in only minutes after Mia had, pulling leaves from her hair even as she stepped through the door. "It was in a tree," she muttered angrily. "Who in their right mind would throw their packed food into a _tree_ to keep it safe from pirates?" 

            Jenna opened her mouth to reply but stopped as Sheba went on. "I mean really. Any pirate even _looking_ for food had only to climb the tree. And pirates don't go around looking for food, anyway—they just like to pillage."

            "And plunder," Jenna added, lacking any other reply.

            "And pilfer," said Sheba scathingly. 

            "And loot," Jenna put in as an afterthought, drumming her fingers of the table. "And sing all those rowdy drinking songs."

            "Where'd you hear that one?"

            "Read it somewhere, I guess. Listen, you'd better make sure you have everything all packed again, since we leave tomorrow morning."

            "Ivan keeps most of the Psynergy items, and Mia carries the Herbs and such…and you're the one with all of those Psynergy-activated attack things. What do I have to carry, again?"

            "Well, we certainly can't put Garet in charge of the food," Jenna said, grinning. Sheba laughed. "Then again, we'll be on the ship…has Isaac or Felix determined where exactly we're to go?"

            "I think the plan is something along the lines of 'Hover around until we spot the pirate ship'. Who knows what'll happen when we do find it. This Barbaus will certainly be a character."

            The sun had long set when Picard and Felix finally returned. Felix mumbled a goodnight and headed off to his room; Picard turned right back around and continued up the stairs, back to the library. 

            It was dark and quiet inside the book-filled room—Picard lit a lantern from one of the torches outside the room and walked in, closing the door most of the way behind him. As he walked, three Djinn—Spring, Shade and Gel—appeared, one on his head and one on each shoulder. He sat in the chair he had used before, only this time his feet and head were pointed the correct directions, and picked up the book he'd left under the chair's cushion.

            His timing couldn't have been more of a coincidence—moments later, Isaac walked in, with a light of his own. Placing it on the table next to Picard's light, Isaac took a seat opposite the Lemurian and stared at him for a while. Finally Picard, more curious than angry or wary, lifted his eyes from the pages. "Yes?"

            "What are you plotting?"

            "…What?"

            "You and Mia held one whole conversation and probably a few more besides, only without words, and the whole time no one but the two of you knew what in Weyard you were talking about. So what are you plotting?"

            "Isaac…I do not understand. I'm not plotting a thing, and neither is Mia. Well, alright, I am plotting against the pirates, but you do more of that plotting than I've done yet."

            "But you and Mia were both up here looking through some books! And if there's no plot, then what's this?" Isaac asked icily, snatching the book from Picard's hands and looking at the cover. His face, which before had held suspicion and anger, suddenly revealed only shock.

            "It is a book about the people of Angara in ancient times," Picard said, gently taking it back. "I had hoped to learn more about Vale and Mount Aleph from this. Indeed, I was glad to find such a book here." 

            "Picard…uh…sorry, about accusing you. Maybe I'm just tired," Isaac stammered, standing and turning to go.

            "Perhaps," Picard agreed. "Don't run into anything on your way downstairs," he added. "I'd hate to find you in a dark hallway on my own way."

            "Right," Isaac said after he'd paused for a few seconds to sort that out. He left the library then, remembering only at the last moment to take his lantern with him. Picard sighed and shook his head.

            "Suddenly things grow more complicated," the Lemurian said. 

            "Agreed," replied Spring, jumping down onto Picard's lap. "Are you at all sure on how you plan to do this?"

            "I'm open to suggestions," he admitted.

            "You could ask us for help," offered Shade from one shoulder. 

            "I am pretty sure it's the unanimous thing to ignore most of you. After all, you're the whole reason we are in this situation, are you not?"  

            "Hail did it," Gel reasoned. "Well…I think Hail did it. He's right, though, we all contributed. They've got a right to ignore us."

            "You might need us for this, Picard," Spring argued. Picard caught a peculiar tone in the Djinni's voice and looked down at her. Spring and Shade had been with him first, and longest. Spring had actually hidden in Lemuria when Alchemy was sealed away, making her rather old in comparison to some of the others, though not those like Bane, Balm, Serac or Luff. Spring had also held the position of resident voice of reason for so long that it was incredibly hard for Picard not to listen to that voice. 

            "Out with it," Picard said, meeting Spring's gold-yellow eyes. "Something about this bothers you."

            "Suppose you fail?" Spring answered without hesitation and in the most serious voice Picard had ever heard. "Suppose all you can offer are words, false hopes. This is not just some new challenge for you to try and meet, Picard. This…so much more hinges on your decision."

            "That is why we have not yet decided," Picard pointed out. Spring nodded and said nothing more.

            About an hour later, yawning and with the book tucked under his arm, Picard walked down the hallway to the room he'd been given to share with Felix and Isaac.

            "Stupid, they are, to give Garet and Ivan one room," he mumbled before dropping into a deep, nearly dreamless sleep.

*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{

            The wind blew strong the next morning, though it was much later than they'd intended to start out, and Ivan and Sheba were the first (aside from Picard) to board the Lemurian Ship, Sheba looking very inquisitively down at the repaired Anemos Wing.

            "You guys did good," she said approvingly. "It looks like nothing ever happened to it. Nice job, Ivan."

            "I'll pretend, for just a little while, that your name actually means us collectively," Garet muttered in Ivan's general direction. Ivan seemed about to reply, then stopped, nodding. 

            Briggs and his entourage—Chaucha, Andrew and Colin—were the last to come aboard, literally charging onto the ship. 

            "Where to, captain?" Ivan asked Picard with a grin. 

            "You go down there," Picard said, pointing to the door. "You and Garet and Felix, and the Champans. Don't look at me like that—you're making a plan of attack. And take Jenna with you—she was in more of that fight than Felix was." 

            "Aye sir!" Jenna said, grinning maliciously and half-dragging her brother and Garet down the stairs behind her. Briggs fixed Picard with a cold stare for a few moments before finally complying and joining the rest of them in the single deck-level room.

            "Now," Picard said, a genuine smile on his face and the Hover Jade held in one fist, "for the pirates." Placing his other hand on the wheel, Picard let the Psynergy of his ship channel itself through him, and the Psynergy of the Hover Jade shot through all five Adepts and into the Wings. 

            Slowly the ship lifted into the air. Sheba, realizing she'd been holding her breath, let it out and smiled. It had worked. The Wings were fixed, and fixed properly, and they were going to catch the pirates and see that justice was done. 

            Mia, feeling quite refreshed after about ten hours' worth of sleep, stood near Isaac, though they spoke of nothing—both of their minds were turned inward, thoughts focused on the task ahead rather than each other.

            It is interesting to note that each of them was contemplating a different future event. 

            Victor stood at the stern, looking down in awe at the water ten feet below. "Yes," said Sheba, coming to stand by him. "A fall from this height would hurt terribly. But why are you thinking things like that?"

            _'To keep my mind from the pirates,'_ Victor thought glumly. _'I fear what they will do to all of you, and perhaps to me for revealing them to you.'_

            "Victor, a few days ago you didn't even _like_ us! And now you'd put us before yourself. Surely we can't have changed your mind in so short a time."

            _'Anyone who would stand against the pirates is someone I would stand beside for all eternity. They are monsters, ruled by that tyrant, that maniac Barbaus.'_

            "They're people too, you know," Sheba argued. A part of her couldn't believe she was defending the people who were out to kill them all, but she did so without hesitation. "Humans, or Adepts, just like the rest of us. …If you don't mind my asking, how did you lose your voice?"

            _'Not like that. Not like what happens sometimes during the rainy season—your winter—when your throat gets scratchy. This…I have tried to speak, several times. Tried to do anything at all—I cannot even hum. All I'm good for is a whistle or two_._'_

            Sheba frowned at Victor's thoughts—he sounded so sad. "Certainly your voice isn't everything. I mean…it's not like you're missing an eye, or you've gone deaf or something. You can still live just like you always have."

            _'I cannot,'_ Victor's mind argued resignedly. _'I can no longer call out to my friends, discuss things with my family, sing a few off-key notes when the spirit moves me. I cannot call my Psynergy. I have lost something too great to lose_._'_

            Sheba was about to say something, anything, that might change his mind, but Picard's voice called a warning from the wheel. He'd spotted the ship, or Isaac or Mia had. The door to the deck room flew open and the rest of the Adepts, plus the Champans, emerged, looking quite satisfied. Briefly, Ivan laid out for Sheba and Victor exactly how it would go. 

            The ship landed right alongside the pirate vessel, cannon at the ready. However, none of them had calculated for the pirates launching an attack of their own—Briggs himself had said that a flying ship would provide enough shock to stop any retaliation for several minutes, at least. 

            A horde of pirates—where had they all come from? Felix wondered—stormed Picard's ship, some leaping the gap, some coming across on ropes they'd thrown across. The ropes had metal hooks on the ends, allowing them to be pulled tight once they'd hooked into the wooden rails. 

            This time, the Adepts and the Champans drew weapons. They knew now that they most definitely faced enemies, and while they'd try to avoid killing anyone, it might have to happen. None of them much liked that prospect, but neither did they like the idea of dying themselves. 

            "Thirteen of us," Felix whispered as the charge came on, "against over thirty or forty of them. How will we do it?"

            "We're us," said Ivan, though he looked rather grim. 

            "That's usually been enough," added Garet. He and Ivan grinned at one another. Felix just stared; ever since they'd been left behind and had to fight the pirates themselves, they seemed to respect one another much more—they were even acting _friendly_.

            "Right, then," said Isaac, raising the Sol Blade. The charging pirates met the Adepts and metal made that nice ringing sound. 

            Jenna, Mia, Ivan and Sheba, the staff-wielders, found themselves almost singled out. Jenna only growled and sent fiery heat running down the Tisiphone Edge—it was hot enough to melt any metal weapon it touched, and to burn the hands, arms and legs of many pirates besides. Mia, whose own staff was a channel for subzero cold, and who had the distinction of often having the better part of her mind thinking at right angles to a battle, even when involved in said battle, grinned and almost laughed.

            Sheba, smallest and fastest of the four, simply twisted and turned to avoid the sharp cutlasses of the pirates and struck out faster than the eye could follow, knocking a handful of them in the head all at once. Ivan was doing much the same, using his height and natural agility to his advantage. 

            A group of pirates clustered around Isaac, leering and taunting, striking in groups of two or three. Isaac blocked them all, then gasped as he felt cold metal slide across his arm. Spinning and biting back a scream, he did likewise to the attacking pirate, stabbing the man's sword arm and leaving him useless. Scowling, he turned to the rest of the pirates and met their blades with his.

            Felix, not wanting to be taken down a second time by such brigands, didn't let a group of them surround him; instead, he worked to surround them, in his own fashion. With a wave of his hand, he used his Spire Psynergy, quickly creating an opening that only one or two pirates could fit through at a time. Grinning savagely, looking at the seven or eight pirates trapped within his Spire ring, he brought a final two crashing down, sealing the men in a solid stone cage.

            "Stop putting holes in my ship!" Picard called out as he passed by. Felix, free for the moment of any pressing enemies, paused to watch the Lemurian, who was engaged with two enemies at once and seemed to be mightily enjoying himself. 

            Indeed, Picard's style of swordfighting was one unique to Lemuria and more unique still to Picard, who'd had to adapt it to fit the traveling-the-world situation. With every strike also being a parry and every parry giving him an opening for a strike, all at a pace that would make both Jupiter Adepts lightheaded, anyone watching would think that Picard fought thus while ignoring the almost-constant sound of steel clanging against steel.

            In truth, though, Picard rather liked the sound it made. 

            Ivan and Garet ended up fighting back-to-back, though this granted Garet many enemy swings at his head. Ivan was faster than every single one of those swings, blocking them all and usually returning a few of his own. 

            Chaucha wasn't fighting much, having only a short sword to work with, but the pirates were undeniably avoiding her. She wasn't sure why until she felt something wind around her ankles. She looked down, expecting to see rope or a pair of hands, but instead she saw vines. Those vines were quickly growing, and growing thorns as well—she sliced at them before they did anything too serious, but then she constantly had to outrun them. 

            Felix felt himself being lifted and thrown, and before he knew what was going on he slammed into the deck of the other ship, sliding along the rough wood of the pirate vessel. He felt something sticking out of the deck tear at his arm and side, but he ignored it, pushing himself up to face this newest threat. 

            A pirate, a few inches taller than he, with emerald-green eyes that had a devious glint to them and bright red hair barely-controlled by a three-cornered hat, stood before him, his long sword—not a cutlass, Felix noted—held out, pointing at Felix's chest. 

            "Get ye in the upper room or I'll run ye through," the pirate growled in a low voice. As if to make the point, his sword moved almost faster than Felix could follow and nicked the Venus Adept's cheek. 

            Felix dropped his Excalibur—no one else would be able to pick it up anyway—lifted his hands and turned, walking into the room backwards, never letting the pirate's face out of his sight. He felt a blast of energy then, and was shoved by some invisible force into a chair; his eyes widened as he felt ropes tie his hands and feet. The door closed and the room became completely dark.

            "Do ye know who I be?" growled the pirate.

            "Yes," Felix spat. "You're Barbaus."

            "Ye'll call me _Captain_ Barbaus or I'll load ye into the cannons."

            "You haven't got any cannons."

            "Ye want to bet me?" A dagger found its way to his throat, though Felix knew almost by instinct that Barbaus stood behind him. Mentally, Felix cursed himself. How could he have given in so easily? Why in the world did he drop his sword?

            "Yer friends, they'll be lookin' for ye," Barbaus growled. "Would ye like me to deliver yer body to them or just leave it here for them to find? Or I'd throw it to yer ship but that might scare some of me crew, and I can't be having that."

            "Why did you bring me here? Why throw me onto your ship?" Felix yelled. He'd never admit it, but the total darkness was getting to him. It brought memories he'd rather have forgotten into his head.

            "It's simple, dear boy," hissed Barbaus. "Ye have me dagger, and I'd be giving it back if I were ye. Perhaps then I'll only take yer weapons and gold, and let ye live." 

            "We thought it might be yours," Felix babbled, desperate to buy himself time. "After all, it was you who threw it, and it had your initials on it. Well, your one initial. The other one, we knew that one, it stood for Barbaus…" Felix trailed off as the dagger drew a line across his neck.

            "So yer for havin' me kill ye. Very well. Of course, I can't be killin' ye an' leavin' anyone else to take their revenge, that's not practical. Who shall I kill first, boy? Might I dispose of that one who leads ye, with his yellow scarf flyin'? Or perhaps ye'd have me take the other, the sailor, tall with a blue look to him." 

            Felix sat as impassively as possible while Barbaus went over in detail, and in an increasingly annoying hissing voice, how exactly he might orchestrate the demise of both Isaac and Picard.

            "Or maybe ye're for the little red. Fiery lass, she is…almost reminds me of me daughter. Ye'd like me to kill her, wouldn't ye, Felix? Like me to take yer sister to the depths of the sea? Like to let her visit Poseidon's grave?"

            Those words made Felix snap. He struggled against the ropes, but something sharp scored a line across his side, reminding him not to move. He reached inside himself instead, for something, anything to provide at least a little light—the darkness was making him mad, in increments of minutes. 

            "Ye'll note, young Felix, that once me dagger's drawn yer blood, yer powers be useless. For ye see, I be an Adept as well." A light came on suddenly, stinging Felix's eyes, and Barbaus circled back around to face the now-lightheaded Felix.

            "I find it hard to believe that a scoundrel like _you_ could have children," Felix spat. Barbaus grinned.

            "Ye're feelin' it. Ye've been sliced one too many times by me crew or meself, and yer payin' for it. But don't ye worry—I'll make sure yer sister knows how much a coward ye were with me blade at yer heart. How ye never fought, not once, to return to her and the rest of yer friends."

            Felix could barely even glare up at the pirate captain, though he managed it very well under the circumstances. Some shadowy corner of his mind brought to his attention that Jenna might well kill him for all the tears in and stains on his clothes. He laughed then, a laugh of both overwhelming sadness and the fact that it had finally come to this. Death tied to a chair on a pirate ship. 

            "Now, I'll be lettin' ye in on me secret, but only because ye'll die of blood loss a short bit after." With one hand, Barbaus lifted Felix's head, and with the other, he reached up and pulled off his hat. 

            A mass of bright red curls tumbled out, held back by a black bandanna. Striking green eyes bored into Felix and long fingernails gripped his chin tightly.

            "I'm not yer average pirate after all, now am I, boy?" Barbaus asked. Felix blinked once, then his eyes closed, darkness taking him completely.

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Well? How was it? Review with comments, angry ramblings and of course, many, many questions! And prepare yourselves, especially you who are part of various fan clubs (FBM, OBHL, that long one that Shiro has with Felix in it…) for chapter six…*evil music plays* 

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	6. Too High a Price

Silver and Gold

A/N: Well, you apparently all really wanted this, so here it is! I have gone over and over this with a fine-toothed comb, so if there are any errors…I don't know what to blame it on. My lackadaisical muses, I suppose.

Hail: It are not me fault!

Tinder: Is so.

Hail: Ye'd best not be messin' with one what can defeat ye!

Tinder: And you'd best learn proper English.

Right…I'll leave them to that…now, I will make two statements about this chapter. The first is that there will be much revealed in here that will make the previous chapters make a whole lot more sense. And the second is that more questions will become known, and you might get confused here and there, but that's on purpose to make it a fun ride. We clear? Good!

**Midnight:** Evil streak? Me? No! If I have any skill at cliffhanging, I learned it from you, dear Death. And I am mean to Felix because Isaac, Ivan and Picard petitioned for a release from injury during that chapter. I didn't entirely stick to it, and I *will* get them back, but that's why Felix. And the Tisiphone Edge bit was a mistake of my own lack of knowledge and…a few conversations leading me to believe it was a staff. 

**Jupiter Sprite:** I won't kill Ivan. I promised _him_ no death in this chapter. Felix…is questionable…ha! Evil stubble! Wait until you know the truth! And…as to what Mia and Picard are plotting…what makes you think they're plotting? *evil smirk*

**Nips:** If you're referring to some sort of slash connection, I'll smite you right now and I won't be sorry. I despise slash. Other than that…heh…hope you enjoy this…

**Alex:** Is Barbaus a _what_?! And if you send the angry mob, then I'll _never_ finish this and leave you in suspense about Victor forever!

…I'd best get on with it before they DO kill me…

Chapter Six: Too High a Price

            "Milord?"

            "Make it quick, man. I have important business to attend to."

            "Sir, the devices you asked for, he's finished with them. Says they're perfect for your purposes. He also said a good deal more, but we ignored that."

            "He does grate on one's nerves. Well, bring them here so I may inspect them. They'll head for Yallam once my pirates are through—I'm certain of it."

            "So certain you would risk everything?"

            "What was that?"

            "Nothing, milord. Nothing at all."

* * *

            Felix's eyes opened slowly, and after the surprise of not being dead yet, he looked up at Barbaus, who was grinning quite evilly. The pirate captain spoke, the hissing voice entirely gone.

            "Well, Felix?" she asked, her long red hair falling past her shoulders, her feminine figure revealed by the removal of her long coat, her voice clearly female but still with a heavy accent. "Be ye likin' me better as meself or as I were before?"

            Felix couldn't even gather enough strength to think of a reply. He did, however, continue to curse himself for dropping his sword—what in all the world had possessed him to do something like that? 

            The door suddenly burst open, filling the room with blinding sunlight. Felix squinted into it, almost directly into the sun, and could barely make out at least two people standing in front of the door. But his world became absolute darkness again, though a very different darkness this time, after that.

            Barbaus had spun around, whipping hair back up into hat and throwing long dark coat over shoulders. By the time her eyes grew accustomed to the light and she made out the faces of Sheba and Victor, both angry and very determined, their eyes had also adjusted to the semidark, and they could see her quite clearly, though they noticed no change.

            "There's another one coming," said Sheba coldly. "She's related to him, you know, and she's got a temper like a volcano bursting repeatedly, only multiplied by about a thousand. Do you really want to tangle with that?"

            "Ye'd best be worryin' about yerselves there, lass," Barbaus hissed. "After all, he's done for, there. But ye…ye look like ye've not yet seen what it is we pirates _do_. I'll take it as me place to show ye." Barbaus drew a sword and slashed with it so fast that Victor had trouble following the motion.

            But Sheba's staff was up, blocking the sword and not letting it move. Barbaus growled, swinging again, even suddenly changing the swing's direction, but Sheba followed every move perfectly, even ducking out of the way and countering with her Lachesis' Rule. 

            Victor grinned, his hand flashed and several vines exploded from the floor, entangling Barbaus's legs. But the vines only got mixed up in themselves—the pirate captain was far too fast to let them catch her. Instead, she ran right past Sheba and barreled into Victor, bowling him over and emerging onto the deck.

            "Captain!" yelled one of the pirates. Barbaus gasped—the fight had been taken to her deck instead of theirs. All necessity for disguise gone, Barbaus yelled to her crewmen in her normal voice.

            "There be only seven left, mates!" she yelled, rushing to try and attack any of the Adepts she could get to. "The tall dark one, he be gone!" 

            "_FELIX!_" a voice screamed. The scream was so shrill and full of absolute anger that it made Barbaus cover her ears. Jenna reflexively let loose a blast of Serpent Fume, charring several of the pirates but immediately clearing a path from her to Barbaus.

            "Ye got feelin's fer the boy?" Barbaus hissed, grinning. "Might he even be yer dead brother?"

            "You _slime_!" Jenna shrieked, fire erupting from both hands and scorching lines in the deck. "Vile sludge! You've not even the right to call yourself human! I've never met anyone so despicable, so disgusting, so _wet_." Barbaus didn't know it, but Jenna had just delivered the most potent insult (coming from a Mars Adept, anyway) she possibly could. 

            Jenna was entirely surrounded by fire now—those near her, friend and enemy alike, backed away several steps. But Barbaus only grinned. 

            "Ye must've really loved yer brother, lass," Barbaus said very quietly, though still grinning. "Would he be wantin' ye to avenge him thus? With fire and smoke and all yer friends about ye, watchin' ye lose yer senses?"

            Rather than reply, Jenna lashed out, fire roaring down the Tisiphone Edge and reaching almost hungrily for Barbaus. The pirate captain grinned. Her crew closed in around the fight, though they still fought off the rest of the Adepts—though a whisper in her ear told her that three of those were down already—and she faced off against the angry Mars Adept, confident that no mere child could beat her out on the sea.

            Sheba and Victor had instantly run for Felix—let Barbaus get caught up in the battle, they decided. Sheba cut through the ropes with her dagger—she only had one, and its main use had always been slicing rope—and Victor caught Felix's unconscious form as it fell from the chair.

            "That makes four," Sheba said worriedly. "Though only three Adepts, and then Andrew." Victor met Sheba's eyes and, very quietly, made a mental request. Sheba's eyes widened, and she looked very much at a loss. "Well I…I don't know, really. You could try…it might not work, because I'm Jupiter and you're Venus."

            '_It's still worth a try. The worst that can happen is it doesn't work, and there are always other options._' 

            "Then go ahead," Sheba said, fighting her natural rejection of all things Venus as Victor took her hand and told her to take Felix's hand with her other one. Gulping back the urge to either scream or give Victor a reappearance of breakfast, Sheba shuddered as Venus Psynergy ran through her.

            '_Cure Well,_' Victor reminded her, and Sheba spoke the words even as he thought them, though nothing in her agreed with her saying them. After a moment Victor released her hand and she let go of Felix's, shuddering again and scrubbing her hands on her shirt.

            "Oh no," she groaned. "I've got Garet's nervous twitch." Victor only looked at her curiously, but she shook her head. "Nothing, really. Long story that's hardly worth the telling. …Or the remembering."

            Jenna's unrivaled fury soon brought Barbaus to her knees. Most of the rest of the crew turned, barely able to believe it. But their pirate captain was indeed down, barely supporting herself with one arm, and they themselves were falling to the remaining Adepts as well as Briggs and Colin. Chaucha was finally coming across from Picard's ship, and when she saw Barbaus she let out a cheer, and another when Jenna knocked the pirate unconscious with a hard final swing.

            Almost systematically every member of the pirate crew either surrendered or was knocked unconscious by the rest of the Adepts. Mia found she was quite enjoying it, too—Picard, Ivan and Felix, as well as Andrew, weren't fighting any longer and it took some real control to keep from bashing a few of the pirates to tiny pieces.

            One of the more rebellious pirates, a large, muscular, rather dirty-looking fellow, dodged away from an attack and began an attempt to beat Colin to a pulp. He almost succeeded—he was incredibly fast, even for such a large person—but something happened then that no one could have expected.

            From rather high in the sky, it began falling. It was small, nondescript, roughly triangular and a very soft shade of lilac, and glittering in the sunlight. It picked up speed and even changed direction as it fell, though there was no wind. It almost seemed to have a mind of its own. Five seconds later it struck Colin in the forehead and skidded away along the deck.

            Isaac saw that, and though he himself didn't recognize it, several of the other minds that currently resided within his did. About five voices instantly chimed in that the falling object had been a fragment of a Psynergy stone, though Bane's added rather dryly how unlikely that was after so long, but he was hard pressed to argue against it happening. 

            There was the subtlest of shifts in the wind. Next came a flash, almost unnoticed, of bright violet light. Then the pirate screamed. Every set of eyes that possibly could turned his way, and all were amazed to see little lines of bluish-purple static running the length of the pirate's body. His muscles twitched, he released Colin, and the static ceased.

            "You're an Adept!" Jenna gasped. Colin, rubbing his head, looked quite confused and a bit disoriented. "That stone…it must be!" Jumping over a couple of pirates, Jenna grabbed the stone from the deck and held it up. "It is! A Psynergy stone! I've heard stories…if someone with even the tiniest seed of Adept power is hit by one, it brings out their Psynergy."

            "Can we not talk about this on a ship full of the enemy?" Briggs practically shouted. 

            "What enemy?" asked Isaac, looking around. Sheba had appeared again, and with a wave of her hand, the remainder of the pirates were asleep on the deck. "We can bring them to the nearest town as pirates, turn them in. If they all fit on Picard's ship, anyway."

            "Not all of them," Mia said, shaking her head slowly, obviously thinking of something important. "A few, maybe. But we could take Picard's ship and Briggs, Chaucha and the Champans could bring this one right in behind us."

            "I'm seeing it split a bit differently," said Felix, walking slowly from the upper room to join the others. Jenna immediately cried out and enveloped him in a hug tight enough to squeeze the life out of him. But this time, he didn't mind so much. 

            Garet, about to question Felix's method of splitting, caught something out of the corner of his eye and looked over at Sheba. Victor stood next to her, laughing hard even if it wasn't loud, and Sheba, staring angrily at her hands, was rubbing them on her tunic very ardently. Almost like she was trying to scrub them from the ends of her arms.

            "Sheba? Everything okay over there?" Garet asked, grinning like he'd just been asked if he'd like to blow up a tall building. "You look a little…twitchy."

            "Garet, if you're smart you'll shut up now so I don't have to hurt you," Sheba snapped. Garet's eyebrows raised and his smile became much more sly and cunning.

            "Save it," Isaac said, cutting Garet off mid-retort. "I know what Felix means. It's going to be a very interesting trip home. Myself, Garet, Sheba…hmm…Colin, too, and any pirate who'd like to redeem himself, oh and Victor too, we'll stay here with most of these brigands. The rest of you, take Barbaus and that other Venus Adept, and anyone else we can't fit." Here Isaac paused, looking at Mia and cocking an eyebrow. The Mercury Adept gave a nod, and Isaac smiled. "And get yourselves over to the other ship."

            "Mia and Felix and Briggs are going to sail it all by themselves?" Garet asked. 

            "You'd cause them too much trouble," Sheba teased. "And you forgot about Jenna."

            "Jenna stays on this ship!" Isaac said fervently. "She can keep the rebellious ones in line," he offered when the Mars Adept shot a glare his way. "Anyone know where the closest city or town or anything with people is?"

            "Yallam," said Colin, though his voice was shaking a bit. "I was watching just before we touched down. We can't be too far from Yallam. And it'll offer us safe harbor, if I remember right—its shores are surrounded by reefs, aren't they?"

            "They are," Felix confirmed. "Picard's ship can Hover right over them." 

            There were several minutes of sorting out—Garet couldn't seem to find a place to be where he was out of everyone's way—and then both ships were ready to go. Briggs, Chaucha and Felix were the only forms visible on Picard's ship as it took to the air, but Mia was also adding her power, despite that power being given in a lesser amount.

            Isaac, Garet, Jenna and Victor—Sheba was still having hand issues and Colin was too shaken to do much of anything but stare at the Psynergy Stone piece in his hand—as well as a handful of pirates scrambled about the other ship, and when Sheba put wind in its sails it kept pace with the Lemurian ship almost perfectly.

*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{

            "Are we close yet?" Ivan complained. Mia sighed and rolled her eyes. The Jupiter Adept had come to shortly after they'd lifted off, found out he'd been left behind on Picard's ship and had done little but complain ever since. 

            "Look, Ivan, I know you _can't_ be enjoying yourself, I wouldn't be either if we were switched around, but could you at least be quiet while I'm trying to sort out thoughts?" Mia snapped, though her tone softened a bit towards the end. Ivan sighed.

            "Then let me go upstairs." 

            "No."

            "Why not?"

            "Because I'm the one with the authority to tell you that you can't."

            "So this is all for your own selfishness?"

            "It's for…" Mia stopped and sighed. What was the point? Ivan was known for arguing himself out of almost any situation. "Fine, go. I have no chance of winning this argument and it will give me more space." Ivan grinned, jumped up and headed for the stairs. "Oh, and Ivan?"

            "Yeah?" Ivan's head peeked down again, between the top of the ceiling and one of the middle stairs.

            "Make sure Felix and Briggs aren't up there killing one another. In fact, send Felix in this direction."

            "Aye aye sir!" Ivan saluted jokingly, then ran the rest of the way out before Mia had time to flash-freeze him. 

            In truth, Mia had little time for anything but trying to put her mind in order. It had only been a few hours—they'd had to land the ship and sail the regular way because she and Felix hadn't had enough power to both keep it aloft and use it for more practical purposes.

            And somewhere in the back of her mind, an idea still lingered. She knew Picard had almost more doubts than he did assurances, and she had her own fair share, but the part of her that was holding onto that idea and refused to let go, that part knew that it was entirely possible to achieve the impossible just by hoping, by believing that it would happen. You just had to wait long enough. 

            Felix came down the stairs then, and Mia looked up, startled out of her thoughts. "Ivan said something about 'her captainship's orders'?" he asked, giving a small half-smile. Mia raised one eyebrow in reply. 

            "So, how goes it?" Felix asked in an abrupt switch of topics, taking a chair next to Mia's and regarding the Mercury Adept with a mixture of concern and appreciation. 

            "Long, and tiring. It's not that I can't do it," Mia continued, noticing without looking the change in Felix's expression. "It's just…there's a lack of help. Isaac and Jenna are on the other ship and Picard…"

            "He's not up yet? Still?"

            "Still."

            "How much trouble are we _in_, Mia?" 

            "Well, if we can get to Yallam soon and just _stay_ there for a few days, not much trouble at all. But I don't know if the pirates will cooperate until then. There are so many of them…so few of us. And did you notice that neither Eoleo not Kraden was with them?"

            "I did. They have a hiding place, and possibly with more pirates involved. But at least Barbaus is no longer a problem. How is the dear pirate captain?"

            "Out. Thank Sol. I have enough to deal with. Speaking of that, do me a favor and see what's up with said dear pirate captain. I'm still trying to sort myself out."

            Felix nodded, rose, and went through the door, figuring that if he walked through every room eventually he'd reach the one with Barbaus in it. Still, passing through one of the only two rooms with multiple beds, and seeing Picard lying unconscious in his, made the Venus Adept pause.

            "What price?" he asked the silent room. "After so much traveling and fighting and putting up with death on a daily basis…how long before the price becomes too high?" 

            Briggs, staring down Ivan (or trying) on deck was having much the same set of thoughts, but for a somewhat different reason.

            "Look here, Briggs," Ivan said, standing as tall as he possibly could and facing the seaman squarely. "We're all in this together now, alright? Me, you, Chaucha, Isaac, Barbaus, everyone. Yes, I said Barbaus. There's something about her that doesn't sit right with piracy. Almost like…like she's crazy, in the bad way. Don't ask me how I know that, but I do."

            "Fine. But she's the enemy! We have to turn her in!" Briggs roared.

            "Not without a chance to talk! To hear her story!"

            "You're too soft, kid. You'd never make it as a pirate."

            "Good thing I'm only one of the saviors of Weyard, then." 

            Briggs stormed off, and Ivan stormed off in the other direction. Andrew, who held the distinction of being the only non-Adept beaten in the pirate fight but also the only one without cause to complain about said fight, was at the wheel, though the Psynergy-propulsion was drawing on Ivan and a little bit on Felix. Usually, whoever's hands rested on the wheel would become the source, but Andrew was not an Adept, so the ship chose, for lack of a better term, the next closest option.

            Another hour passed—the ship seemed to be moving even slower. Ivan sighed and headed back down the stairs—his power was draining, and faster than it should have been. Ivan began racking his brain as he walked into his room (his and Picard's and Felix's and Isaac's and Garet's) and sat on his bed. When most of his Psynergy was gone, who else was there? Mia's power was being put to better use (and there was precious little of that anyway), as was Felix's…and a glance at Picard told Ivan that he'd be no help either. 

            There were no other Adepts on board this ship.

            Or were there?

            Ivan snapped his fingers and grinned. There _was_ another Adept on this ship. Not only that, but it was an Adept who had some crimes to pay for. Ivan wasn't the person who usually had to do the more 'evil' jobs—that often fell to Jenna, Garet or even Mia—but that didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy himself this time. 

*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{

            The world was very dark. That was the first thought in the Mercury Adept's mind. Well, somewhat of a thought. Unconsciousness really blocked the ability of actual thought. The second sensation was one of warmth, perhaps even safety. _On…on the sea…I must be on the sea…_

            A cool hand fell against her forehead and Barbaus's eyes opened, the pirate captain gasping and trying to get up to defend herself against whatever threat had come. When she found that she could barely move, that just about every movement hurt, she stopped trying, instead glaring at the owner of that hand. Her eyes went wide and her voice, though broken and raspy, conveyed both surprise and curiosity.

            "Felix?" 

            "You expected me to be dead?" he asked, giving a tired half-smile and pulling his hand back. Barbaus almost smiled in return, but frowned instead.

            "Why do ye bother savin' a pirate? Why waste yer power on yer enemy?" she demanded.

            "Because we're not heartless. And we're not killers. Most of your crew is alive as well."

            "Most of them?" Barbaus croaked. Felix's light brown eyes met Barbaus's green ones for a moment, regret and perhaps even sadness reflected in them. 

            "Yes, most of them," he said quietly. "A few…there were those that we could not save. I am sorry."

            "Ye're somethin'," Barbaus half-whispered, forcing herself into a sitting position. "Ye risk yer lives to come after yer enemy on behalf of a false pirate, and then ye fight us weak, makin' sure ye're not killin' us, and then even after I went and near to killed ye, ye're savin' me and me crew and bringin' us to somewhere safe."

            Felix nodded. In truth, he had no idea how close they were to Yallam, but he'd place his bets on quite close. Or perhaps it was wishful thinking—there was very little Adept power to be spared now. The ship was still moving, and at a pretty good pace at that, though, so Felix still held hope of not having to stop overnight. The back of his mind wondered how Isaac and the others fared on the other ship.

            "What did ye do it for?" Barbaus demanded again, this time more urgently. "Why didn't ye let me go?" Felix, about to reply, paused and instead considered his situation. He was eighteen—nineteen in the coming winter. And Barbaus was…perhaps in her mid-thirties. Yet she was in the position of less power and begging of him an answer to why he hadn't left her to die.

            "Because of who you were," he said finally. "And no, I didn't mean to turn you in to Yallam or Alhafra…" Felix stopped; at the sound of the word 'Alhafra,' Barbaus had visibly shuddered. "What is it about Alhafra that makes the great pirate Barbaus tremble?"

            "Ye never spent half a year and six holed up in one of their prisons," she said, her voice strained and shaky. "Ye don't know what it's like to live all yer days in darkness, to go days on end without eating…ye don't know the fun to be had by an Alhafran prison guard.

            "In the beginning…I told meself that nothing they could be doin' could be takin' me down—none of them were to be defeatin' the pirate Barbaus! But half a year and six…it did things to me mind. Ye heard me on me ship—I was mad. Could be I still am. Everything I knew…there wasn't any sense left in me brain.

            "Some man, he came to the prison. He'd be talkin' about how anyone who'd be wantin' to could take on a quest he had, and I said that I'd be happy for it. So I was put to huntin' Briggs. That old man of his sure does like to talk yer ears off.

            "I had a family. Somewhere, I probably still be havin' it. Me daughter…she were everything. Me husband were dead…she were all I had. But I left me home with a crew and found me skill in piracy. I never did go back.

            "And now, look here at meself. Yerself, ye be savin' those ye've no cause to, savin' the world, and I be out there tryin' to destroy it." Barbaus took a long, steadying breath, but it was stopped halfway through by a series of coughs. Felix reached out again, gently making Barbaus lay back down.

            The pirate captain's eyes slowly closed, and she felt Felix's hand on her forehead again; this time she did not spring up as though facing an enemy. Somewhere in the depths of her mind, Felix and perhaps even the rest of the Adepts were allies, if not entirely friends. Barbaus fell asleep with peaceful thoughts in her mind.

            Felix, however, was frowning. He was down to the barest reserves of his power, and it seemed that the pirate captain was growing worse. Felix rubbed his temples with both hands and sighed. He wasn't good at this sort of thing by nature, and was only moderately adequate even when it was urgent. 

            Moments later, the ship stopped. Fearing their power supply at its end, Felix was out on the deck before he realized what must have happened. Though Ivan, exhausted, was asleep against a rail, and the Venus Adept he'd brought from below was slumped over the wheel, they were on the inside of an area ringed by reefs and rocks.

            They had made it to Yallam.

            Isaac and the rest of the Adepts traded places with Briggs and all the Champans (Sheba and the Teleport Lapis played a big part), and the Adepts at full power, or nearly full, were an asset indeed to those on board the Lemurian vessel. About two hours later, with all nine of the Adepts awake and most of them hungry, they sat around the large table in the deck-level room and enjoyed a well-earned meal—all were present save Mia and Picard. While they ate, Felix told them all about Barbaus.

            "I'll still kill her," Jenna said venomously. 

            "You'll leave her alone. The Yallam authorities can take care of her."

            "They'll kill her too!" Jenna protested. "See reason, Felix!" 

            "They may not need to," said Picard. The rest of the Adepts turned to see both Mercury Adepts ascending the stairs. Picard offered them a grim smile, but Mia only shook her head and sighed. "She may very well take care of that on her own."

            "What do you mean?" Isaac asked calmly. For those watching him, though, he wasn't nearly so collected—a flash in his blue eyes and a slight frown gave his emotions away. 

            "She won't last," Mia offered, dropping into a chair. "Not even the night, if we don't do something."

            "But all of us who can are out of power," Jenna said, drumming her fingers on the table. "What? I'm trying to think of something!" she said in answer to several questioning looks. 

            "I believe our only choice is to take her and any of the others who…" Mia stopped, blinked a few times and shook her head quickly. "Right. Take them into Yallam."

            The reactions to this idea were quite mixed, and discussion went on for nearly on hour before Picard reminded them that time remained short and certainly wasn't getting any longer. Isaac nodded, and five minutes later the eight Adepts—Victor had remained onboard in case the ship needed to move away quickly—were carrying two pirates and Barbaus up the beach and into the town of Yallam.

            The sky was a vivid red as the sun set—Isaac could hardly believe all that had happened had taken only one day—and the two Yallamites on watch hurried the Adepts inside the town, and then hurried them along to the Sanctum, which was obviously where they were headed.

            With a promise to return in the morning, the Adepts left the pirates there and took themselves to the Inn. The place was rather unremarkable—a squat, round stone building with only one floor—but it did hold all of them and they were too exhausted to have cared even if it didn't. Almost as soon as each head hit a pillow, its owner was asleep.

            Strange dreams haunted Ivan that night. Dreams of something terrible happening, of a loud sound like the breaking of a branch, and a sudden whirl of such enraged chaos it was hardly believable. He tossed and turned that night, unable to find much rest in his sleep.

            Sheba's dreams were quite different. Hers showed her a peaceful place, a city that sparkled as though recently washed clean of everything. People milled about and went from place to place, admiring the vibrant colors and commenting on how some recent happening had been far too long in coming.

            There was a sharp knock on the door, and every Adept was startled from sleep. A glance out the window told them it was barely morning—who could be coming in at such an hour?

            The door burst open and in marched several tall, imposing men, as well as two very familiar faces. One was Sunshine, Yallam's blacksmith—he'd forged several of the weapons the Adepts were carrying. 

            The other was the mayor of the city of Alhafra. The man gave the Adepts a wicked grin, and then nodded. "These are they," he said. "The pirate Briggs led them here, and bade them act as regular travelers. But ware their strength! They have the powers of the elements to use!"

            "Sunshine!" Jenna said, seemingly the only Adept there who wasn't in utter shock. "You know better than that! Don't believe them!"

            "The pirate emblem was with your belongings," said the innkeeper. "I had to call them in. There have been so many raids, and a high price goes to any who catches the brigands!" Smirking, innkeeper showed them Barbaus's dagger, the one that had originally been thrown at Felix. In the dim light, the letters 'AB' could just barely be made out. 

            "I can't believe you turned pirate, Felix," Sunshine said, shaking his head. "I regret ever having done work for a pirate." 

            "It really isn't my week, is it?" Felix asked the air. Every Adept now held their weapon, though only Jenna and Garet actually had theirs ready. The rest, though, were on a fine edge—one aggressive move from the guards would bring the fury of eight wrongly accused Adepts upon them.

            "Now!" said the mayor of Alhafra, and a small form darted out from between two of the tall men. Moving incredibly quickly, it ran past Isaac and Ivan quick enough to create a breeze. Both Adepts instantly fell to the ground.

            "Isaac!" Mia said, and Isaac shook his head, and held up his now-shackled hands. 

            "My Psynergy…it's gone…" he said, disbelief clear in his voice. Several more fast-moving things appeared, each attempting to place the Psynergy-binding steel around the wrists of an Adept.

            Picard's Mythril Blade slid from its sheath and he fought the things off as best he could. Their speed and ability to change direction at such speeds drove him back to a wall, but he was still swinging, still keeping them away from his hands. One of the things, whatever they were, snickered and jumped over Picard, seemingly aimed for the wall. The Lemurian felt pain explode on the back of his head, and then fell to the ground, barely conscious.

            The Alhafran guards and their mayor watched with pleasure as each of the Adepts was bound, brought to his or her knees and knocked senseless by the fast-diminishing shadow creatures.

            "That old man really had some decent ideas," remarked one of the guards as they threw the Adepts over their shoulders and carried them out to the waiting ride. It was a large wooden wagon-type thing, only made entirely of wood and with one small window set in one side of the left wall. "Shackles to stop elemental power, stones that give us extra strength, and creating moving shadows when you push a button."

            "He had a good deal more to say," another guard reminded, "and none of that was any use at all."

            "It was still worth it," said the mayor in a satisfied voice. "We have the old man, the boy, and now we have Briggs himself, as well as those meddling Adepts who let them get away with my ship! What a happy bonus I'm getting in this deal!"

*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{

            Garet felt someone, someone's hands, shaking his shoulder, shaking him awake. He wanted to tell them no, to tell them he wanted just five more minutes, but his mouth and voice wouldn't listen to what he wanted. The thought of Victor, voiceless now and half-useless because of it, was enough to bring Garet awake without anyone's help. He didn't want to end up like that! Jolting awake, he scrambled to sit up and found himself nearly knocking heads with the owner of those hands.

            "Oh good," said Jenna dryly. "You're not dead after all. Of course, we might have figured that out by all the loud snoring."

            "I told you it was him!" Ivan's voice said from somewhere in the darkness. Garet realized they were all in one small space, and the only light was coming from a torch on the wall. 

            "Would I rather be dead?" he asked after a moment. He vaguely remembered the Alhafran version of an army barging in on his sleep the night before and trying to…do something. But being in this place sure went along with that line of thinking.

            "We're not sure. We're in some sort of Alhafran dungeon," said Isaac's voice. Relief was filling it, though, and that made Garet think—had he really seemed to be dead? "Far as I can gather, they think we're the pirates who've been raiding up and down the Eastern Sea and that Briggs was our leader. Apparently they also know of the sign Barbaus used on her weapons, so when they saw us with them in Yallam—the people there must have been told to watch out for raids—they took us prisoner."

            "So, what now?" Garet asked, moving to rub his head and finding that both hands were coming along for the ride, and that one of them was protesting. He yelped, and Jenna's fingers closed over his mouth so the scream was kept quiet. 

            "Well, if I remember Alhafra correctly," she said in the same dry tone, "we don't get anything resembling fair judgment. We just get punished. By the way, Garet," she added, pulling her hand away, "your hands are basically tied together with Psynergy-blocking steel, in case you've forgotten that part, and moving one means moving the other."

            "I figured that out," he muttered. From the shadows, Ivan and Sheba giggled. "So we just wait here until they decide they're ready to do whatever with us?"

            "Basically," Sheba supplied.

            "I don't like this," Felix said. Garet looked over his shoulder and saw the Venus Adept sitting in the corner, his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms locked around them. "These people…ever since Briggs took their ship, they've been angry with us. And their mayor isn't at all a decent man. Barbaus said she went insane in here, was stuck here for six and a half years. Apparently she's not too insane anymore, but…six and a half years? _Here_?"

            "Good morning?" asked a groggy voice. Though none could see it, Ivan smiled. He recognized that voice—he'd spent a few good jokes on it. 

            "Morning to you too," Sheba offered. "Nice to see…er…hear you up again."

            "It isn't very nice to be here," Ivan added. "Sort of dark and dull and suspenseful. It isn't too fun."

            "I can imagine so…Mia? Is that you? What are you doing?"

            "Oh! Sorry, Picard. I can't see a thing except Garet and part of Jenna over there."

            "Quite alright. …But if you wouldn't mind moving?"

            "I thought I had." Mia shifted, and Picard let out an audible sigh. "Well, apparently we're all in one piece—sorry, Ivan, eight separate whole pieces—and alive…"

            "The length of that last statement is yet to be determined," Isaac noted grimly. "I still don't understand how they marked any of us as the pirates. I mean, yes, we were in all those towns as well, but that was only after the raids. And we never came anywhere near Alhafra."           

            "And why would Briggs attack his own town?" Jenna added.

            "_Twice_!" put in Ivan. "I mean…there's no logic behind any of this."

            "I've come to understand that our lives are seldom logical," Mia pointed out. 

            "Yes, but the lives of these people probably are. Here's what I don't understand," Garet continued. "Yallam is pretty much cut off from messengers by water, so the only people they could have heard about the raids from are the Alhafrans."

            "There's a point," Sheba said, the sound of sudden enlightenment in her voice.

            "But like Isaac said, we were never anywhere near Alhafra. We made a point of not going there."

            "He would have taken Briggs's head off for not returning the ship. Or for taking it in the first place," Jenna added.

            "That's still not my point," Garet said, looking quite angry, confused and frustrated all at once. "We never went near Alhafra, and we haven't got a record of piracy. I can understand Briggs being pinned with a pirate raid or several, that's in his background. But how did the Alhafrans know _we _were with them?"

            The Adepts considered this for several silent moments. Among their thoughts were surprise at Garet's figuring it out before the rest of them, apprehension and anger at what they now knew was going on around here, and downright fear of what the mayor of Alhafra would do to them.

            Felix's thoughts were compounded by something more—the mayor had released Barbaus only to use her and whatever crew she could gather—some of them might have been innocents!—to fill his desire to harm people. Innocent people, even, and that struck a discord with Felix's heroic sense. 

            He was about to speak when there came the sound of heavy footsteps. Several bright torches cast their light in the tiny cell, and ten guards were standing at the door. One by one, the Adepts were led out and blindfolded, and together they were marched down many corridors and around quite a few turns.

            The blindfolds were removed and the Adepts found themselves squinting and blinking in the harsh light of day. Briggs was there as well, and Isaac noticed Eoleo and Kraden, each bound and tied to chairs on a platform, not too far away.

            "Isaac! Felix! My goodness!" Kraden exclaimed. "Why, those are my Psynergy-blocking cuffs! How dare they imprison my companions thus?"

            "What?" Ivan exclaimed. "His? I'll kill him twice for everything he's caused!" This comment earned Ivan a jolting kick in the stomach, doubling him over. He felt something snap, and nearly fell to his knees, but the guards hurried him along. 

            "Well, well, well," said the Alhafran mayor as they approached a large platform upon which was something tall and covered in a large cloth. "What have we here? The brigands who raided us and took our treasures!"

            "They don't look much like those villains," spoke up one Alhafran. The man was promptly silenced.

            "Ah, but they are indeed!" proclaimed the mayor. "See the dagger they carry, bearing the emblem of those same thieves! And Briggs, who is obviously working with them, is the pirate who stole the ship that belonged to Alhafra! Justice will be delivered, and it shall be swift and merciless."

            Picard's golden eyes looked on at the rest of the Adepts, at Ivan, still doubled over, and Garet, without the use of one arm, and at Isaac and Mia, looking at one another with utter despair. He took all of it in and realized what the mayor must have been planning, and planning from the start. And he made his decision.

            "If it were truly justice," he said, clearly and calmly, his voice conveying that he had no fear at all of what was to come, "then it would be fair and right, not cold and at the mercy of its deliverer. What you speak of is not justice. It is the remains of a grudge that has been ill-held for all these months." Picard's voice took on a scathing, condescending tone, something virtually unheard of in the Lemurian's usual calm manner. "It is the utter perversion of justice. Killing for personal gain is not justice. It is _murder_." 

            "Well then, since you know so much and are obviously leader of this little band," said the mayor in a hiss—Isaac and Felix both looked quite shocked at this, "then it shall be you who sees the hand of justice first." Two of the guards literally lifted the Lemurian into the air and threw him onto the platform, and the mayor ripped off the cloth to reveal what lay hidden underneath. 

            It was tall and, for the most part, wooden. From one end of it hung a rope tied in a circle which could be tightened or loosened at the will of whoever was holding it. And next to it was a lever that would drop open a trapdoor area directly under the hanging bit. 

            It was a gallows. 

            Picard, dazed and only half-aware of what was going on, felt the shackles removed for only the time it took to get his hands behind his back; then they were locked back into place, and he was pushed backward yet again.

            "NO!" Jenna yelped, taking a step forward and raising her hands. One of the guards moved to stop her but she lashed out, kicking as hard as she possibly could. She fell back, one leg throbbing with pain, but the guard staggered away too, whimpering. 

            "She has a point," said Felix, and he moved to attack as well, but he was caught from behind and bashed over the head. Nearly unconscious, he fell to his knees. None of the Adepts got the chance to try anything else as the remaining guards caught them and held them, and they were forced to watch. None of them would have closed their eyes anyway—to do so would be wrong, it seemed, in the face of what was about to happen.

            Picard barely noticed as the rope was placed around his neck and tightened. His mind had gone somewhere farther, into its darkest corners and deepest reaches, searching for the answer to one question. And the answer, when it came, was a resounding yes.

            He smiled, coming fully aware again. There was nothing he could do about his dying now, and it certainly stung to be imprisoned twice for not only the same crime but the same crime he hadn't done, but he knew that his choice had been the right one.

            "And he will be hung, as all of them will, for piracy and murder!" the mayor finished a loud recalling of various made-up occurrences, and the man beside Picard pulled the lever. The trapdoor dropped and so did he. 

            There was a loud snapping noise. 

            Picard didn't move. He no longer could. His eyes remained closed, his face still. And Mia found the strength to wrestle free of her captor, as did Isaac, Jenna and Sheba. Isaac held onto Mia as best he could while she sobbed. With their Psynergy blocked there was no helping it, no doing a thing about it. 

            Picard was dead.

******************************(((~{************************************

Gah! *sobbing rather large tears*

Hail: Arr. She's wishing fer me to deliver to the lot o' ye this here aluminum!

Tinder: Ultimatum, Hail. Not aluminum. 

Hail: Arr! This here alteration! As it says…she wishes to tell ye that she knows ye know her, and ye're thinkin' she'll remedy this here situation right quick, but she's fer tellin' ye that no, she won't be. Things'll be stayin' as has been done.

Tinder: Stupid pirate slang. What she means is…well…never mind…it's too hard to talk about…

Go! Review! There are still questions to be answered in the…final…chapter, after all…*walks away talking to self* I killed him…me, OBHL #1, me, killed him, killed Picard…

Tinder: She might've lost it…

||

||

\/


	7. Sun on the Horizon

Silver and Gold

A/N: First of all, there are snippets from the movies Pirates of the Caribbean and Finding Nemo in here. Just so I'm not stealing copyright or anything.

Secondly, to the reviewers! 

**Griffinkhan:** I hope this didn't go too fast for you! And many thanks for the preread!! 

**Sandra of Lemuria:** Um…you scare me…

**Jupiter Sprite:** Yes, finally one chapter with no typos!! 

**Midnight:** Thank you for withholding the pizzas. I have enough on my plate as it is. Hope you enjoy this!!

And thirdly: Thank you all for waiting me out. I know this took a while. But here it is!

Chapter Seven: Sun on the Horizon

            The world exploded into chaos. Nine Mercury Djinn had just found themselves robbed of an Adept, and they didn't like it. The attack-capable ones unleashed themselves on everything they possibly could, and those that weren't busy attacking called to the Adepts.

            Their minds whirled. Their Adept was dead. They had lost a deep connection to someone that they'd planned to be with for the rest of their existence, or perhaps his. As elementals, they did not know physical pain, but every one of them was certain that if it was anything like this, they were no longer even remotely curious about it.

            Isaac, still holding tight to Mia, watched this chaos with a blank expression, watched the others' Djinn leave them to join the fray, and felt nine minds detach from his, leaping to aid the Mercury Djinn, eager to get revenge on the people of Alhafra. For the first time in a very long time, Isaac was alone in his own head.

            He looked down at his hands, still locked together by the one thing that could render him useless. Kraden's stupid hand-shackles. 

            Kraden.

            Isaac felt anger begin to burn inside him, fury he had never known before building to what felt like an unbearable level. Had he been a Mars Adept, he might have breathed fire. Kraden was going to pay for what he'd done. This, all of this, everything that had happened to any of the Adepts within the past month or so, had been his fault.

            Mia let go of Isaac, knowing somehow that something had just become wrong. His hands clenching into fists, he began to walk towards the platform on which Kraden and Eoleo sat, six guards standing menacingly behind them.

            "You listen up, old man!" Isaac yelled, ignoring the guards advancing on him. "You're going to pay for this! I swear I'll give you back every single problem you gave us, starting right here! You come _down_ off that stand and do something to make up for the way you got Picard killed!"

            "No," Jenna whispered. Until Isaac had said it, in her mind she'd been able to deny it, to say that it wasn't true at all, that it was either a dream or a hallucination. "No…no, it can't…" _He can't be dead_, her mind screamed, as though it would simply jump free of her head and shout it to the world. 

            Sheba fell to her knees, unable to fight off tears. Gasping with each movement, Ivan knelt beside her, trying to comfort her through the pain he so obviously felt. Guards were coming to surround _them_, too, but a virtual wall of Jupiter Djinn would have nothing of it. Lightning split the sky several times, and the thunder overhead was almost enough to drown out Isaac's shouting.

            Almost.

            "How dare you do this to us! We dragged you all over the _world_ for months, and then we followed your advice and went all the way to Contigo, and _then_ we had to come after you to get here, and not one thing you've told us yet has been worth what occurred here today! It was you who began this, Kraden! You and your infernal _curiosity_!"

             The Mars Djinn, Fury leading the charge, brought fireballs raining down on any guards within their attack range, large flaming orbs that burned right through their armor and hit the skin beneath. Alongside them, allies for a while, but not the first or last time, the Mercury Djinn called upon huge chunks of ice, as well as tiny, razor-sharp shards. Enraged, Picard's nine Djinn had gone past the point of caring whether or not their actions killed someone, even the more peaceful ones like Shade, Spring and Eddy. Indeed, it was Spring, screaming the whole way and never once letting up on her torrent of power, who felt the loss most of all—she had known Picard the longest, and the best. This rage had spread to each and every Djinni, and their attacks were unceasing and merciless.

            Isaac's Venus Djinn easily kept any and all guards away from him as he advanced, fury burning in his eyes and in his very soul, the flame of a scream, an emotion too long held back. Gritting his teeth and very nearly growling, he reached the platform and stepped up onto it, ignoring completely the punches from the guards and the pain of one's speartip sinking into his side. With what sounded like a roar, he grabbed Kraden by the front of his robe and lifted him, chair and all, high into the air with a strength that came from a desire for vengeance. 

            "Look at this, Kraden!" Isaac screamed, his hair whipping in a sudden wind. "Look at what you've done to the people of Alhafra, and to Briggs and his family, and to us. Look at what you've done to _Picard_."

            Kraden's eyes widened behind his spectacles, his face conveying nothing but innocent shock and surprise.

            "Don't play the fool with me, Kraden! I know what's happened because of you, I've lived through it! Jenna lost her brother for three _years_ because of you! Saturos and Menardi nearly possessed Alchemy! Karst and Agatio are _dead_! In a few moments, we all will be, Kraden! All because of what you did!"

            "I did nothing!" Kraden protested in a weak voice. He saw them all out there, Mia holding her resolve as best she could, Jenna falling to pieces, Garet shouting as his Mars Djinn did their work, Sheba and Ivan kneeling together amid a whirlwind of Jupiter's might, and Felix still trying to shake himself back into the three-dimensional world. And he saw Picard, and at that he had to turn away; his eyes and heart could not face the tragedy that he knew he had caused.

            "_You took us into Sol Sanctum_!" Isaac's voice boomed. At last he had reached it—the reason the whole quest had ever happened. The starting point on the journey that had brought them to this disastrous moment. And Kraden could deny none of it. He looked up into Isaac's eyes again and saw nothing of the Venus Adept's usual calm and general disposition of mercy. All he saw there was darkness and cold fire, azure flame whose chill burned Kraden worse than even true fire could. And at that moment, over all others, Kraden was truly afraid.

            Isaac's Psynergy erupted. In him, it felt almost like a relief, that the time bomb had finally reached the end of its fuse. To Kraden, it was utter agony—the man felt everything, or nearly everything, that Isaac had within the time between the day he'd met Kraden and the current hour. Each heartbreaking experience, and every attack in battle, and the constant sorrow at having to endanger the lives of his best friends, let alone the entire world, all turned into a beacon that seemed to burn into Kraden's soul.

            The shackles broke open and fell to the ground. Isaac's Psynergy was entirely used up, however, and Kraden and his chair dropped back to the platform as Isaac swayed and fell over backwards, tumbling off it.

            "He did it!" Mia cried, though there was no excitement, not even the faintest trace of hope, in her voice. "He figured out how to break them." Jenna looked up, saw Isaac fall, and made to stand and run after him, but to do that she would have to pass the place where Picard hung still…just the thought of it kept her on the ground.

            Felix, however, was coherent again, and was standing with his eyes trained on one man—the mayor of Alhafra, who was taking advantage of the panicked crowd and many distractions to try to slip away to safety. Felix knew he could never reach the man in time to stop him, but his determination wouldn't let him stop watching. 

            There was a dull thud, and a dagger landed point-first at Felix's feet, buried up to the hilt in the dirt. Frowning, he bent and pulled the dagger from the ground with his shackled hands and turned it over in them. Despite everything, he grinned, running his fingers over the letters that marked the bottom of the hilt.

            The Mayor of Alhafra was crawling on all fours between the quickly scattering crowds, so he barely noticed when he bumped into someone's legs headfirst. He didn't even bother to try and apologize—he found such behavior a waste of energy, time and air—and turned to go around. But someone else blocked his way _again_. After the third such incidence, he looked up at the person blocking his way, planning to chew him out for not moving.

            "Now where'd ye think to be goin'?" Barbaus asked, smirking victoriously. "Ye'd not be tryin' to escape the blame fer all ye've done what's been wrong, now were ye?"

            About to argue, the mayor of Alhafra looked again at the proud pirate captain. A three-cornered hat rested at a bit of a tilt atop a mass of fiery red curls, and emerald eyes, eyes that he'd been used to seeing as defeated and angry, sparkled as they bore into his with fury surpassed only by Isaac.

            "Of course ye're not," Barbaus answered her own question, giving the man a swift kick in the head. "Now, we're here to repay a debt we're owin' to a handful of Adepts. And ye'd be well advised not to stand in me way," Barbaus added, and motioned to a man on her right. "'Ere, boy," she said, and Colin stepped forward. "Hold him. I know ye well enough—he'll not get two steps from here with yer hands the way they are."

            Colin smiled and grabbed the mayor's wrists, and the man yelped as an electric charge coursed through him. After a few seconds, Colin dropped him again, but this time he was unconscious and he didn't offer any kind of argument.

            Most of the Alhafrans had made it to their homes by now, and the Djinn were making quick work of the guards, though Felix had reasonable doubt that many of those guards were even still living. He didn't like that thought, and the taste of it was bitter, but he had a duty that stood above that, right then. Slowly, still a little dizzy and in no way looking forward to what he had to do, Felix climbed up onto the platform where Picard still hung and spent what was probably a minute but felt like an hour looking at his friend, at how peaceful the Lemurian looked.

            "You knew they'd do this before you even started beating him down with your words," Felix accused, clenching his fist. "You knew you'd die. I wish I could ask you why you did it, but I know I can't. So I'm going to repay you for…for everything, I guess." Felix had never really been one to try and explain himself, or even talk much at all, but for some reason he felt he owed it to Picard to say…something. Finished speaking, he gave the Lemurian a final, deferential nod, reached up and cut the rope with Barbaus's dagger, and lowered him gently to the ground.

            Isaac, free of the shackles but entirely drained of power, felt himself being pulled to his feet. Looking up dizzily, he smiled, and Victor smiled back. Without either Jupiter Adept to speak through, Isaac couldn't hear what he was thinking. However, he did understand that he had to get the shackles off the rest of the Adepts. The key—no, it wasn't a key, Isaac realized, but a metal lockpick—that Victor held out made clear his intent. 

            Nodding a wordless thanks, Isaac started for Mia. She stood, watching him, though it was obvious that something stopped her from coming to him. He looked in her eyes and saw the tears held within, but something kept them at bay. Something, whether it was her healer's composure, her natural defiant streak, or the feeling that if she started crying now she'd not stop for the rest of her life, kept those tears from spilling over.

            Isaac soon freed her hands, as well as those of Jenna and Garet. But the shackles had drained their Psynergy away, and none of them had more than the barest hint left.

            Felix walked over to them then, and Isaac unlocked his hands as well. Felix tried to call on some kind of Psynergy, but though his hands became surrounded by greenish light, nothing else happened. They looked over at Ivan and Sheba, but not even _they_ could have gotten past the barrier of raging wind and bright lightning that surrounded the Jupiter Adepts.

            "The guards are all mostly dead," Felix said mildly. "The few left alive probably won't stay that way for long. The Djinn are making this complete, as are the pirates."

            "The pirates are here?" Mia asked. 

            "Yes. Barbaus leads them, and they are doing killing of their own. Everyone wants vengeance today."

            "I hate it," Mia whispered, burying her face in Isaac's shoulder. "I hate this killing."

            "It's a terrible guilt to have," Briggs said, tossing his own regular iron shackles form hand to hand—he'd managed to escape them. "To have the shadow of taking another's life on your heart."

            "And you make it _so_ much better," Garet mumbled, holding one arm with the other one. Then he looked at Felix. "You…you got Picard down…"

            "He's dead," Felix said, his voice still the epitome of calm. "Perhaps, in that way, he's better off than the rest of us."

            "Felix!" Jenna cried. "You don't mean that!" Felix and Jenna continued to argue back and forth. Isaac listened with only half an ear. In his mind, a plan was forming. It was a desperate plan. Something he might only use if there was no other way, and no other hope. 

            It was perfect.

            "Jenna, Felix, be quiet," he said, and both of them stopped speaking quite abruptly. Isaac was…grinning. "Felix, take this pick, here, and give it to Colin—if Barbaus is here, then so is he. Have Colin step in there and free Sheba and Ivan, and tell Sheba to find Victor. Jenna, you go get Barbaus and bring her here."

            "Barbaus?" Jenna exclaimed with disgust. 

            "Yes, Barbaus. Look…just do it, okay? I…I don't want to give anyone false hope…but…" Jenna and Felix nodded and hurried off.

            "Just what…are you planning?" Garet asked through clenched teeth. Isaac turned to him, prepared to respond with something along the lines of 'nothing' or 'it's just an idea, not a plan' but Garet knew him too well.

            "I'm going to use Revive," Isaac said, looking down at his hands. 

            "But…you haven't got any Psynergy! And neither have we! And…don't you need the powers of the Djinn to give you enough strength for a Revive?" Mia demanded. Isaac nodded slowly. "Then…how?"

            "You'll see. This has to work." Isaac watched, the plan taking shape in his head, as Felix rounded up Colin, Sheba, Victor and Ivan, and Jenna returned with Barbaus. Briggs, reunited with Chaucha and Eoleo, stood off to the side, watching stoically.

            "Should we help them?" Chaucha asked, watching as the Adepts gathered around Picard's body and sat in a circle.

            "This is their business," Briggs said in a gruff whisper. "We should leave them be." 

            "Isaac, you're mad!" Ivan said, rubbing his wrists. Barbaus, Colin and Victor were the only ones with any substantial amount of Psynergy, but that amount was only large when compared to what the rest of the Adepts had. With a long sigh and one last pleading glance at his hands, Isaac faced them all determinedly.

            "That has nothing to do with this plan. I was mad long before this." 

            Without the Djinn, Isaac had decided, he would simply need to draw on the powers of everyone else to generate enough energy for a Revive. He didn't know if he could do it. He didn't know if he could even survive something like this. But he had to do it. Something in him, a voice perhaps, though a voice not his own, told him that he had to do this. 

            "But Isaac!" Mia protested, still stubbornly fighting not to cry. "It could kill you!"

            "How do you know something bad isn't going to happen?" Sheba added, and Victor nodded his agreement. Isaac looked at them all again and spoke without any hesitation in his voice. 

            "I don't. But with the Djinn off causing mayhem and chaos, and not enough power in any one person…what other choice do I have?"

            "What if it doesn't work?" Colin asked hesitantly. "What if…what if we fail?"

            "Arr, then ye'd best be good with knowin' ye done all what ye could do," Barbaus said, nodding. "Now are we to be sittin' here all day and waitin' fer this to happen, or are we to be gettin' on with it?"

            Isaac knew he could delay it no longer, and he placed his hands on Picard's shoulders, forcing out of his mind the fact that the Lemurian was dead, wasn't alive anymore, wasn't about to just wake up and…yes, he forced that out of his mind. Around him, the Adepts joined hands, with Mia and Jenna placing their hands on Isaac's shoulders. 

            Isaac reached inside himself for the small amount of power he had left, and felt that power in turn reach for the power within everyone else. Blue, green, red and purple lights twined together, wound all around each other and came back to Isaac as a blazing white light. It was all he could do to even hold that much power. 

            **_That's how it is, Isaac,_** said the voice, a voice that now seemed far more real and less like talking to himself in his head. **_That's how it must be._**

            Isaac didn't understand. But he didn't need to. All he needed was to feel the power flowing out of himself and along his arms, out through his fingertips…

            "_Revive!_" he yelled, and there was a blinding flash as all the power he'd held was released violently—the shock of it was enough to throw all of the Adepts several feet back; this put both Ivan and Colin on the ground below the platform, as they had been closest to the edge.

            A moment later, the light was gone. Isaac was sitting at the very edge of the far side of the platform, blinking away the spots left behind by the light. He'd never felt such a power before…it was a power he wanted…something he wished he could have at his disposal all the time.

            But the thoughts of that power were shaken from his mind as his vision cleared enough to allow him to see Picard. Mia, Victor and Barbaus—now there were three people he'd never have expected to see together—were watching the Lemurian with varied degrees of suspense on their faces.

            It was Victor, silent and calm, who saw it first. Both Mia and Barbaus were watching Picard's face, hoping he'd open his eyes or start to breathe or something. And it was beginning to look like their hopes were ill-founded. But Victor saw it, and his grin gave it away. 

            Picard's fingers twitched, both hands being trapped out to one side because of the shackles. Once, then again. Then his hand clenched into a fist and he gasped, sitting bolt upright and opening his eyes wide. Mia screamed, though it wasn't at all out of fear, and ignored the sensible part of her mind as she embraced the Lemurian.

            Picard didn't understand. His neck hurt, his shoulders were sore, his hands were bound, he was dizzy and it felt like he couldn't breathe and hadn't been able to for a few years, perhaps. And his shirt was wet…he looked down to see Mia sobbing into it, her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

            "Mia," Picard said quietly, "I do not know what is wrong, but surely it cannot be that bad."

            "It isn't bad at all!" she cried, looking at Picard with a smile that threatened to break her face in two. The other Adepts all hurried over, Colin using the lockpick to free Picard of the shackles. He felt his Psynergy return then, what very little of it there was.

            "Why are you all looking at me as though I've…" Picard began, but memories hit him like a hammer right then. Memories of his question to the Djinn, whether or not they would attack if he died. Memories of their resounding yes. 

            "What…what about the Mayor?" Picard asked, looking around. His eyes grew sad when they fell upon the bodies of the guards, and all the Djinn still attacking, pouring their fury into continuous blasts of Psynergy. "Did he get away?"

            "No," Colin said proudly. "The pirates have him, and they're holding him."

            "Arr," agreed Barbaus. Remembering something, Felix handed the pirate her dagger back.

            "Nah," she said, waving his hand away. "'Tis yers fer the keepin'," she added, grinning in her pirate way. "Teach me somethin', ye did, about honor and how ye should be showin' that to everyone, enemy or friend."

            "Now if only we could teach her to be rid of that accent," Jenna mumbled. Garet laughed, as he had been close enough to hear, and reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes. With both arms. He looked at them, wondering if he hadn't imagined it all along. But the pain that had been there before was gone, now.

            "I say we inform the people of Alhafra of this," Ivan said, standing and brushing himself off. "After all, the overthrow of an overlord usually calls for some sort of celebration." Ivan held out a hand to Picard, who used it to pull himself to his feet. As a very large group, the Adepts, Briggs, Chaucha, Eoleo, Andrew, and half of Barbaus's pirate crew walked to Alahfra's Inn. The Djinn rejoined their Adepts along the way, Picard's nine throwing a party of their own inside his head. And Kraden walked solemnly behind them all, eyes filled with tears of both sadness and joy.

*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{*(((~{

            "Picard."

            "Mia."

            "Are you certain?"

            "If I were not certain, would I have agreed?"

            "But…how do you know something bad isn't going to happen?"

            It was a week later. The Adepts were still in Alhafra. So were the pirates, and both boats. The mayor had been put in prison, much to the delight of almost every citizen of Alhafra. The position of Mayor was now open, and they were looking for someone with good enough intentions to fill the job. 

            They'd all heard the story of how Barbaus had woken up in Yallam's sanctum and scared half the village until someone would tell her where the Adepts had gone. She had then taken herself, Colin, the pirate Venus Adept and Chaucha on Picard's ship, and her own ship had followed behind on a mad dash to Alhafra.

            However, there was the little matter of what Picard and Mia had been plotting. Sheba had picked up on it, a random thought on the breeze, but a few days ago, and now she stood outside the door, listening intently.

            Picard considered Mia's question very carefully. He'd spent one night awake, weighing and balancing the good and bad sides of the plan. If it worked, the good far outweighed the bad. If it didn't, nothing would change. He had said as much to Mia only a few minutes ago. 

            "I don't." 

            Sheba chose this moment to walk in, with the rest of the Adepts, including Victor, behind her. Mia and Picard looked at them in surprise, both of them looking as though they wondered if they'd been overheard.

            "It's okay," Sheba said, smiling. "I told them. They know what you're planning, and they want to help." 

            "But Sheba…how did you even know?" Mia asked.

            "You both think very loudly when something occupies most of your mind," Sheba said with a little shrug. "I knew you couldn't do it just by yourselves, and certainly you didn't think we wouldn't want to help, did you?"

            "We discussed involving you, remember?" Picard asked with a raised eyebrow. "Way back when this whole plan was formed."

            "You seriously all want to be in on this?" Mia questioned. All of them, even Victor, nodded with absolute sincerity.

            "Of course we do!" Isaac said determinedly. 

            "Yeah! We want to give Victor his voice back!" Ivan chimed in. Sheba, grinning, nodded again. 

            "Alright then…" Picard said, his eyes looking around the small room they were in at the Inn. Very slowly, the other Adepts began to look around too, as though curious about what in the world he was trying to find. Picard took that moment to set off the Sleep Bomb at Victor's feet.

            "You really do like that little idea, don't you?" Jenna asked dryly. Picard grinned. "I'll have to remember not to share my tricks with you as often. Somehow they always get used for what they weren't designed to be used for."

            "Such is the consequence of giving a new idea to an inventive Lemurian mariner," Felix said, he and Isaac pulling Victor off the floor and setting him on the bed. "So, oh great and powerful Adepts of Mercury…what's the plan?"

            "A while ago, I figured out exactly why it was Victor could make no sound at all," Mia said, absently tapping her fingers against the wall. "That Venus Adept, the one working with the pirates, figured out how to completely…disintegrate, if you will…his vocal cords."

            "Well that complicates things," Picard said, leaning against the opposite wall. "You didn't tell me that part."

            "Well I didn't expect you'd ever agree to try this in the first place."

            "Always expect the unexpected," Ivan quipped.

            "Ah, but Ivan," Picard said cryptically, "does not expecting the unexpected make the unexpected the expected?" Ivan blinked. That had made his head do a flip. "That is what I thought. Anyway, Isaac, I credit you with my agreement."

            "You…do?" Isaac asked warily.

            "I do. You see…your plan for bringing me back brought to mind the possibility that such a thing might work in other situations. Combining everyone's power to work as we need it to."

            The Adepts, especially Garet and Ivan, paused to think about this.

            "Um…how much work will it involve?" Garet asked hesitantly. Beside him, Sheba hid her giggles behind her hands. Mia looked down at the floor for a moment, then raised her head again.

            "None from you. I just need…your power, I guess…"

            "That Sleep Bomb only works for so long, you know," Jenna remarked casually, brushing some imaginary dust or something from one sleeve. She always hated these kinds of uncomfortable situations. Why wouldn't they just get on with it?

            "Right," Picard said, pushing himself off of the wall and looking around. "Hopefully this'll be easier than it was for you guys…before." Picard looked at Mia, who closed her eyes and took hold of one of Victor's hands, then reached out her other hand for someone else to take. Isaac's fingers quickly filled the space. Soon all of the Adepts were hand-in-hand, eyes closed.

            Sheba and Ivan, at opposite sides of the circle, reached for one another and then for the other Adepts with their minds. Sheba, who was far more used to it than Ivan was, reached as well for Victor, though it wasn't his mind she was searching for—just a link to him that Mia might follow.

            Mia didn't need her eyes open. It wouldn't have helped anyway—just messed with what she could now see in her mind. Or perhaps it wasn't in her mind at all. Perhaps it was…something else. But she wasn't entirely sure what it felt like.

            '_Like you're standing at the edge of a tree branch, or a cliff_,' Picard's voice spoke in her mind. '_And you have nowhere else to go_.'

            '_Or like when you can see the apple you're reaching for, just beyond your fingertips, no matter how far you stretch_,' Isaac offered.

            Yes, Mia thought. Like that. Like something was there, only she couldn't quite reach it. But she reached anyway, acting on an instinct that she didn't even need to question anymore. She felt power, power beyond anything she'd ever known, reaching in front of her.

            She stood at one end of a large chasm, facing the other side and wanting to cross. It was much too far to jump, and she certainly couldn't walk. But as she watched, a shimmering silver light began to extend itself before her. Gingerly, she stepped out onto it and found that it would hold her. So she continued walking as the bridge extended itself before her.

            Around her, she noticed other silvery lines, coming from both directions. Along each one walked one of the Adepts. Mia wanted to call out to one of them, or wave, or do anything to get their attention, but she found that her voice wouldn't work and she couldn't move other than to keep walking forward. 

            On the other side of the chasm, Felix, too, was walking, though he didn't know exactly where, only that he desperately wanted to be on the other side. As he walked, a silvery line of light extending before him, he saw that his path was winding itself around several others. Along each other path walked an Adept. 

            He also tried to call to one of them, but when he found he couldn't, found that he could neither speak nor move anything but his legs, his mind began to panic. What if he was trapped like this, just walking forever and ever?

            '_Don't worry, Felix,_' another mind said in his. '_We're only here for a little while_.' Felix relaxed and let himself continue walking.

            None of the Adepts could tell how long they walked, back and forth across that great gap, in different places each time, never once meeting up with another person, and never seeming to get anywhere but the other side. And once reaching that other side, all they wanted was to turn around and get back where they had come from.

            After what seemed like hours of endless walking, Mia reached the end of her journey—she knew because at once she felt released from the desire to cross the chasm again. Slowly, one by one, looking tired, drained and ragged, came the other Adepts. 

            '_Did it work?_' Sheba asked tiredly, her eyes half-closing.

            '_How could we even tell?_' Ivan added.

            '_For that, we will use a time-tested and guaranteed process of determination,_' Picard told them, nodding sleepily. 

            '_And what might that be?_' Jenna asked.

            '_Waiting,_' Picard and Mia replied together. If any of them had had the energy, they might've laughed. As it was, they only formed a circle and joined hands again, this time as a means of getting themselves back, getting out of whatever strange place they were in.

            They were back in the room at the Inn, except that now, they were all completely drained of power. And Victor was sitting wide-eyed, looking at them all very bewilderedly. None of the Adepts could register more than this, however, as the complete drain on their power—had they gone too far?—caught up to them, and each one of them collapsed unconscious on the floor. 

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            Isaac stood on the deck of Picard's ship, his hands wrapped tightly around the railing. He was staring at the dark water—the sun was only just rising, and he was facing the west. The events of the previous day were still rather shocking to him.

            Mia still hadn't awoken, and shortly after Isaac had come to he'd learned that Victor also had fallen into a deep sleep and could not be roused. But Isaac and the six other Adepts had attempted to make things right again in Alhafra. 

            They'd apologized to the people for everything that had happened to them. And they'd apologized to Barbaus's pirates, especially those that had lived in Alhafra, for having to follow the orders of one such as Alhafra's former mayor. 

            Briggs, Chaucha and Eoleo had left the day before, early on in the morning. Briggs had reluctantly thanked them all, even Felix, for doing all they'd done to save his son and to clear his name, for a while at least.

            "I owe you my life several times over," he said, shaking Isaac's hand. "Let's hope I can repay it before I die."

            "You owe us nothing," Isaac had argued. "You gave us an adventure we're not likely to forget. And you managed to survive Kraden for a little while," he added with a grin. Despite the respect they now shared, it had not been very hard to say farewell to Briggs. It had been quite difficult, however, to bid goodbye to his crewmen.

            "Good luck with being an Adept, Colin," Ivan said, shaking his hand and grimacing as the shock coursed through him. "You might want to get a grip on that, though."

            "I…I'll try," Colin said, smiling. Andrew had lifted his hand in mockery of a toast, and Picard and Felix had given him a salute back. Their ship had sailed away, doubtless bound for Champa.

            Isaac had gone inside the Mayor's chambers to bid farewell to Kraden. The old man was standing at one of the windows, looking out at Alhafra thoughtfully.

            "You know, Isaac," he said, "I've not spent much time on the continent of Osenia. I believe this would be an adequate place to continue my research of Alchemy. In fact, the lycanthropes of Garoh have agreed to aid me in my studies if I choose to remain here."

            "You're going to live in Alhafra?" Isaac asked, taken aback by Kraden's abrupt statements. 

            "No. I'm going to govern Alhafra." Kraden turned away from the window and smiled cheerily at Isaac. "I've been offered the position of Mayor, and I've accepted. Besides, I know you kids want to be rid of me."

            Isaac stood there, shocked. Sure, Kraden had been an annoyance for the past year or so of Isaac's life, but…well…he didn't doubt that the ship would seem emptier without the man.

            "Are…are you sure?" he asked, Kraden nodded.

            "And don't worry. I'm not as absentminded as you all seem to think. I can run things, and run them far better than their previous mayor did. There'll be no death sentences, Isaac." Kraden put a hand on Isaac's shoulder. The Venus Adept had nodded and left, heading for the ship. 

            Picard's ship and Barbaus's had left at the same time, though they were bound for very different ports. Picard had been planning to head to Lalivero, or perhaps Daila, for no reason other than to get as far from Alhafra as possible without expending too much energy. Barbaus was going to return to Madra, Yallam and Izumo to return the men she'd taken on as pirates to their homes. 

            Felix, at the other end of the ship, recalled his parting with Barbaus and found that it wrenched his heart. He held a certain pity for the pirate captain—she'd not be pirating anymore, and it seemed she had nowhere to return to. They had toasted with drinks in the Inn's dining area.

            "I'm fer believin' that ye're a pirate at heart, Felix," Barbaus laughed. Felix scowled at her.

            "And why's that?"

            "Well, ye suffer from an affliction common to all pirates, boy. Ye're obsessed with treasure."

            "I am _not_ obsessed with treasure," Felix argued.

            "Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate," Barbaus said. Felix was about to shrug this off as crazy pirate babble, but then he thought about it for a moment. No, he realized. Not all treasure was measured in how shiny or heavy it was.

            "Ye'd best be keepin' that heroic attitude of yers, Felix," Barbaus said, raising her glass. "Else ye'd be nothin' but a dirty scalawag pirate like meself."

            Felix raised his glass also. "Who's to say that'd be such a bad thing?"

            "It are, boy. Believe me, it are." Smiling, she extended her glass toward Felix. "Take what ye can."

            "Give nothing back," Felix replied, clinking his glass against hers. Both of them drank.

            Felix sighed at the memory. _An enemy that became an ally_, he thought, looking down into the deep ocean waters. 

            Isaac's hands gripped the rail even tighter as his thoughts came around again to Mia. She'd used the most strength of them all, and it had taken a great toll on her. Worse, they still had no idea whether or not their attempt had worked.

            Picard was at the wheel, lost in his own thoughts. Thoughts of the recent events, of how Spring had insisted on dancing around for hours afterward, how wrong they'd been to ignore the Djinn in the first place, for 'getting them into this mess'. This mess had probably been one of the best stories they'd ever get to tell anyone. 

            _We became pirates so we could ally with pirates to defeat pirates, while none of us were _really_ pirates at all_, he thought, smiling at the irony. He began to hum a tune that had come into his head quite suddenly, an old ballad to which he knew the music, but not the words.

            Why, then, were the words making themselves known in his head? Picard wondered, turning and searching for the source of the words. He realized it came from below deck, and he stopped the ship, heading below with Isaac and Felix to investigate.

            "I wish you the wonder of winter," the voice sang as the three of them descended the stairs. "And days that are golden as grain."

            "Who in the world?" Jenna asked sleepily. She and Sheba left their room, intent on tracking down the source of the voice that had woken them up so early.

            "All the best things that life has to offer."

            Garet yawned, ran his fingers though his hair, and pushed his door open, nearly catching Isaac in the face with it. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, but Isaac motioned for quiet as they continued down the hallway. Shrugging, Garet followed.

            "Loving and living." 

            Ivan was already outside the door when they got there. The grin on his face was unmistakable. Coming up behind him in the hallway was Mia, looking tired and disheveled but perfectly fine otherwise. And she, too, was grinning.

            "Hoping and giving."

            Slowly, knowing in the back of his mind what he would see but scarcely daring to believe it, Isaac pushed the door open. Victor stood in the center of his room, facing away from the door, singing.

            "I wish you till we meet again." Victor turned around as he sang the last few words, smiling. "Thank you," he said, his green eyes spilling over with tears. "My voice has never sounded like this. In fact, it has never been this way before in my life."

            "We got it wrong, then?" Ivan asked, disappointed.

            "No, not at all," Victor said, still grinning. "This is more than I could have hoped for. I'd thought myself voiceless for eternity, but now I have a voice better than I had even before. I can…I can talk, and hum, and _sing_!" 

            "I say we turn this into a party!" said Flint, appearing in Isaac's hair and jumping up and down as only a Venus Djinn could. Isaac groaned.

            "Get off of there!" he scolded, and the rest of the Adepts laughed, Victor perhaps hardest of all. Mia chuckled along with the rest of them, but felt like she barely had the energy for it—she was satisfied with feeling accomplished. And it was a very good feeling. 

            Isaac made his way over to her and put an arm around her shoulder. "You did it, then. I think that breaks the record."

            "No," Mia said quietly. "We did it. It took all of us. And I wouldn't have it any other way."

            "You know something else is going to come up," Isaac said as Mia leaned her head on his shoulder. "Something that's going to seem insurmountable, but we'll get through it anyway."

            "Yes, I know," she said, smiling. "Aren't we used to it by now?"

            "I'd imagine so."

            Picard watched them all, laughed with them and agreed wholeheartedly that they needed a party, and they'd have one the moment they stopped—they knew now that they were headed for Champa; not originally their goal, but it seemed a worthy one, and it would be worth the looks on Briggs and Chaucha's faces when they saw that it had worked.

            "I suppose if we're to party, we'd best get moving," Picard said to himself, turning and walking back out onto the deck. His eyebrows rose in surprise and curiosity as he noticed a white bird perched on the wheel.

            "Well hello there," he told it. "Aren't you my uncle's messenger bird? Ah, and you've got a message! Let's see what it says, shall we?" Picard took the message from the bird's leg, unrolled it, and read it, his frown deepening the further he read. When he was finished, a bright smile spread over his face.

            "Well now, _that's_ some good news," he said cheerfully, stroking the bird. "I'll write a reply to my uncle and send you back with it when we reach Champa," he said, taking hold of the wheel again.

            "Now. Bring me that horizon."

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HA! And you all thought I would really kill him!

I must explain. There is the matter of me telling you that things would be left as had been done. Well, at the time I said that, that potion of this chapter was already typed, and so things were left that way! And I also left this open a bit for their next adventure…

So. Now that you're all not going to kill me…what do you think? If you want to find out (in the next tale) what the message from Lemuria said…you'd better review…

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